The events at the School of the Emperor Star shocked all of Donghai Academy. There wasn’t a single person who did not know about it.
Zhou Mu was defeated by Ye Futian in such a humiliating way. His defeat was an equivalent to a slap in the face for the Art Saint and became a taboo topic amongst the Art Saint’s acquaintances. They were all extremely cautious of their words around him.
But now, this Mu Hong character dared to bring up the subject in front of all these people. It was obvious how the people of Donghai Academy felt about this. Especially when he said: ‘Let’s see if Brother Fengliu’s disciple is a fraction as gifted as the Art Saint’s disciple.’ How was the Art Saint supposed to feel about this?
Many people were afraid to look at him. They were all afraid that they might catch the Art Saint’s eyes.
“This idiot!” The officials of the Emperor Star school all glared at Mu Hong.
The officials of the School of the Flirting Star were also looking at him. This sucker’s son and daughter had been beaten up by Ye Futian. Did he not know of this?
Mu Hong noticed all the attention he was getting. He thought to himself, who would have thought that the battle between the Art Saint and the Guqin Devil still had this much influence on people? There should be a lot of people who look forward to a battle between their disciples.
It was a pity that Hua Fengliu was so inferior now, going around begging others like a stray dog. It was only natural that his disciple would not amount to the brilliant Zhou Mu.
“Father,” his children called to him. Standing behind Mu Hong, Mu Yunqing, and Mu Yunni were going to be sick. They never expected Ye Futian to show up out of the blue and never in a million years did they think their father would say such things. There was no way that the Art Saint and the School of the Emperor Star were not offended by Mu Hong’s words.
Even Ye Futian was stunned by Mu Hong. Ye Futian remembered this man vividly. After all, he was the first person that Hua Fengliu introduced him to upon their arrival in the City of Donghai. He could not believe that Mu Hong would say these things in this setting.
Looking to the Mu siblings who stood behind their father, he gave them a meaningful smile. Just as he thought, the siblings did not have the guts to complain to Mu Hong. It was probably because they were too embarrassed.
“Greetings, Senior,” Ye Futian suddenly greeted Mu Hong with a smile. He continued, “When I met you I thought that you were a brilliant man and that your children were destined to become the best of the best. I only found out that they were students of the Flirting Star school when I entered the academy. Under your guidance, your children must be very talented.”
Hua Fengliu blinked a couple of times. He looked at his disciple, speechless. Could Ye Futian be more brazen? But why did he anticipate what would happen next?
Hua Fengliu was not the only one who was shocked by Ye Futian. The students of Donghai Academy all looked dumbfoundedly at Ye Futian. Weren’t the Mu siblings the very first people that Ye Futian beat up on his first day at the academy? How deep was this rivalry that Ye Futian had to play with Mu Hong in this way?
“Although Yunqing and Yunni can’t claim to be geniuses, they are still pretty gifted. ‘Very talented’ would be right,” Mu Hong said confidently. Mu Yunni pulled at her father’s clothes from behind and whispered, “Father, stop talking already.”
“Hmm?” Mu Hong furrowed his eyebrows. His head tilted in confusion.
“Very talented indeed. I have witnessed this first-hand on my first day at the academy. The two of them have inherited your Life Spirit and possess extraordinary gifts. A chip off the old block if you will,” laughed Ye Futian. Everyone’s expression darkened. This rascal…
The Mu siblings looked extremely awkward. They were so embarrassed. Mu Yunni glared at Ye Futian. This jerk was doing this on purpose!
Observing the looks on his children’s faces, Mu Hong began to realize that something wasn’t right. He asked, “How did the battle go that day?”
Mu Yunqing and Mu Yunni lowered their heads. Their hatred for Ye Futian strengthened.
There was no chance Mu Hong could stay oblivious at this point. His expression fell immediately when he finally realized that he had fallen into Ye Futian’s trap.
Turning his attention away from his children, Mu Hong looked at Ye Futian once again. He forced a smile on his face and said, “You are indeed the Guqin Devil’s disciple. It seems that you are extremely gifted. It is fortunate that these two incompetent rascals know to be embarrassed. They didn’t dare to mention the battle to me. Since I’ve already witnessed the abilities of the Art Saint’s disciple, I am now more interested to know just how outstanding the Guqin Devil’s disciple is.”
Ye Futian snickered at the sight of Mu Hong. This guy couldn’t seem to get enough of offending others.
“Father!” Mu Yunqing called out to Mu Hong again. Simultaneously, a voice rang out from the direction of the group from the Emperor Star school, “Have you had enough?”
Mu Hong froze. His gaze shifted in the direction of the voice and saw the icy gazes on himself. Zhou Mu has also been glaring at him coldly from his spot on the battle platform. Even as he returned to his seat with the others from the School of the Emperor Star, Zhou Mu continued to glare at Mu Hong. His battle with Ye Futian was also the most humiliating for him. What was Mu Hong trying to do, bringing it up again?
Mu Hong suddenly felt like the public enemy. He thought to himself, what on earth happened?
“I admit that my disciple is not on par with Hua Fengliu’s disciple. After his defeat last time, I already told Zhou Mu to focus all his energy on cultivation. I don’t think that it is necessary for Brother Mu to bring up this topic again, right?” someone said softly. Everyone shivered.
It was the Art Saint who spoke.
Mu Hong froze with his eyes on the Art Saint. His heart pounded rapidly. He finally understood why everyone was looking at him, and why Ye Futian looked at him funny.
So, the Art Saint’s disciple, Zhou Mu, already had an exchange with the Guqin Devil’s disciple. What’s more was that he was defeated.
His eyes twitched. He turned to glare at his own children. Oh, how he wanted to give them each a slap across the face. These two brats didn’t bring him any intel on Ye Futian.
Upon having another look at the Art Saint and the officials of the School of the Emperor Star, Mu Hong knew exactly what kind of effects his words had.
“Please forgive me, Brother Hua. I had no idea of any of this. I had no intentions of offending anyone,” Mu Hong apologized.
The Art Saint turned his gaze away, not looking at Mu Hong. At this Mu Hong’s lips twitched. His piercing eyes turned to Ye Futian.
Ye Futian felt wronged. He was completely clueless when he first arrived at the assembly. Mu Hong was the one who offended everyone with a single sentence. All he could do was to go along with him.
At this time, many clueless outsiders observed Ye Futian. The Guqin Devil’s disciple actually defeated the Art Saint’s disciple?
Lin Xiyue, who had her eyes trained on Ye Futian the whole time, smiled and said, “I didn’t expect that he would become so powerful after getting into Donghai Academy.”
“He was still slightly inferior back at the Luo Palace, but then he actually defeated Zhou Mu.” Xiao He was also shocked.
“Let’s continue,” said Han Mo. He did not want to dwell on this topic any longer. Today was the Emperor Star school’s day to shine but Ye Futian has stolen the spotlight. His mere existence was an annoyance. And then, that idiot Mu Hong just had to start a fight with him. Mu Hong’s actions just now inadvertently humiliated the School of the Emperor Star.
More disciples from the school stepped out and the Assembly of the Seven Schools continued.
Ye Futian and the Guqin Devil sat with the School of the Finance Star. They quietly watched the assembly progress. They deduced that the Emperor Star school was targeting the Finance Star school. Ye Futian was fuming inwardly. At the same time, he could only sigh because he knew how sly the School of the Emperor Star was. Even if he stepped up, he could only fight. It would not help the situation at all.
As a whole, the School of the Finance Star could not compare to the School of the Emperor Star. They were completely overpowered.
Watching the students of the Emperor Star school fight, Hua Fengliu reminisced about his days of cultivation there. It was a pity that things were so different now. Everybody has changed. Sitting amongst the group from the Emperor Star school were many familiar faces, but none of them would even look him in the eye anymore. Their attitude towards him and their attitude towards the person who used to be equally as famous as himself, the Art Saint, were completely different.
“Thinking about the past?” Tang Wan observed Hua Fengliu’s expression from beside him and asked.
“Don’t make fun of me.” He smiled bitterly at her.
“You used to be so famous at the academy. It’s normal to think about the past,” Tang Wan replied. She turned to look ahead. She also thought of her cultivation days. Hua Fengliu wasn’t the only one who was famous at Donghai Academy back then. So was the Art Saint, Nandou Wenyin, and herself. They were all extremely gifted.
“I’ve always had a regret. Master is a person of such high-caliber, but as his disciple, I didn’t even get the chance to demonstrate my powers as a Musical Sorcerer before getting kicked out of the academy,” sighed Hua Fengliu. Tang Wan nodded. “Elder Qin is indeed very respectable, but Ye Futian was able to prove himself in front of the School of the Emperor Star with one musical piece, the ‘Decree of the General’. That should make up for at least a part of your regrets, right?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Hua Fengliu nodded.
Time passed little by little. It was dusk. The sky turned a beautiful red. People from Donghai Academy looked up at the beautiful night sky from time to time. It was almost like the end of an era.
“Is he really not going to fight?” asked Lin Xiyue. Her beautiful eyes never left Ye Futian. How could he not fight on a day like this? It was the Assembly of the Seven Schools for crying aloud. Since he was able to defeat Zhou Mu, it was obvious that he was really capable.
Slowly, people stopped stepping on to the battle platform. Everyone began to whisper left and right. Someone laughed as they said, “Today is Donghai Academy’s Assembly of the even Schools. The School of the Emperor Star put on such an impressive performance. They have overshadowed the other six schools.”
“The School of the Treasury Star wasn’t bad either. They only lacked a little in comparison to the Emperor Star school. They can be considered the second-best school of Donghai Academy,” someone else commented.
From these comments, everyone knew that the agenda of the assembly was just getting started.
Amongst the group from the Emperor Star school, Han Mo smiled lightly. He turned to look at the Crown Prince and heard Luo Junlin say to Minister Hua, “The person that Minister Zuo favors has not made his move yet.”
Minister Hua nodded. He then whispered in the ear of the headmaster of the Emperor Star school. The headmaster wore a strange look on his face but nodded anyway. The headmaster stood up and called out, “Hua Fengliu.”
Hua Fengliu lifted his head in confusion. He looked at the headmaster and smiled. “Greetings, Uncle-Master.”
The headmaster nodded in response and said, “You used to be a student of our school, so why are you sitting with the School of the Finance Star today?”
“I am here with my disciple today. He is a student of the Finance Star school, so I sat here with him,” Hua Fengliu answered calmly.
“Then I have nothing better to say regarding that. The Crown Prince and Minister Hua have graced us with their presence today and would like to witness the powers of the best students of Donghai Academy. Your disciple is extremely gifted but has not stepped up. What is the meaning of that?” the headmaster reprimanded. This was peculiar to everyone watching. Why was the headmaster asking for Ye Futian? However, there were a lot of people who looked forward to witnessing the “outstanding” gifts of the person who defeated the Art Saint’s disciple.
Hua Fengliu and Ye Futian felt something was amiss. Was there no other choice but to fight?
At this moment, Ye Futian saw Tang Wan walk to the front with a guqin in her hands.
“Duyou. I purposely carry it with me. The Guqin Devil’s disciple can’t do without a guqin,” she said. Ye Futian gave her a smile. She came prepared in hopes that they could take advantage of this event to make sure the Guqin Devil’s name wouldn’t be forgotten by the citizens of the City of Donghai.
Ye Futian nodded with a smile and took over the guqin, named Duyou. Let’s play a piece for Master today!