What just happened?

The crowd, which had been cheering just a moment ago, plunged into sudden silence. Every single pair of eyes were widened in disbelief.

Sang Hong, Jiang Luofu, Xie Yi, and the other powerhouses had been chatting merrily with one another. Those from the Wu clan, Zheng clan, and Yuan clan had been looking gleefully at Chu Zhongtian, waiting for him to be embarrassed. Shi Kun, feeling reassured after seeing Zu An getting into the dueling ring, and had just been about to take a sip of water…

All of them were frozen in place at this very moment.

Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or did Zu An just slap Yuan Wendong? How could that be possible?!

Nobody dared to believe what their eyes had just witnessed. Yuan Wendong was a renowned fifth rank cultivator, whereas Zu An was a renowned good-for-nothing who was even weaker than a normal human being.

Rubbing their eyes in confusion, the spectators began double-checking with the companions beside them. In the end, they were forced to conclude that they weren’t seeing things, and the silence collapsed in a huge uproar.

How did he do it?!

Upon seeing Zu An leap into the dueling ring, those from the Chu clan had prepared to rush in to stop him. However, the sight that followed had left all of them stunned as well. Chu Zhongtian traded confused looks with Qin Wanru, and Chu Chuyan shuddered involuntarily. Their eyes were filled with incomprehension.

Only the person on the stretcher, Chu Huanzhao, began clapping delightfully. “Good job, brother-in-law! Aiyo~”

Her movements accidentally tugged at her injuries, causing her to groan in pain.

Yuan Wendong was completely dumbfounded. His head still spun from the impact of the strike. If not for the stinging pain on his cheek, he would still be trying to figure out what had just happened.

I got struck by that trash?

Rage immediately gushed to his head.

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for 1024 Rage points!

He had imagined countless scenarios in order to find the best way to torture Zu An and vent his anger without revealing his killing intent. He had also considered how he should react if those from the Chu clan were to intervene to stop him. However, this scenario had never crossed his mind, not even once!

He had actually been slapped in the face by a piece of trash, right before all of the notable figures in the city!

“I’m going to kill you!”

Yuan Wendong’s relatively suave face immediately twisted in anger as he charged toward Zu An.

“Wait!” Zu An raised his hand to stop him.

“It’s too late to beg for mercy now!” spat Yuan Wendong angrily.

Despite his words, he still came to a halt. He was still considering how he could regain his pride. I should get this fellow to kneel before me, begging desperately for mercy with tears in his eyes. No, that still won’t be enough.

Zu An combed his hands through his hair, slicking it backward. “I was in too much of a hurry to get into the ring, I forgot to play my specially-prepared entrance music.”

As he said those words, he took out a seashell from his robe, and the dueling ring was suddenly enveloped in a passionate melody.

Yuan Wendong was immediately struck speechless. So were Shi Kun, Wu Qing and Chu Chuyan, whose mouths fell open in identical expressions.

All of the students from the Sky class immediately caught on, having witnessed it themselves during their previous arithmetic class. However, the rest of the crowd was confused by this sudden turn of events, and fervent discussion broke out.

“What’s with this melody? Why does my heart start pumping just by listening to it?”

“Such passion rushing through my veins! Where are the evil-doers at?! I’m going to kill them all and save the world!”

…

Xie Daoyun had been sitting quietly in her seat for what seemed like an eternity. She wasn’t too fond of fighting, and the duels that had taken place had only made her feel drowsy. However, as soon as this melody was played, she immediately jerked upright. Wonderment filled her eyes.

“Gong, Shang, Jiao, Wei, Yu… Hm? This note doesn’t fit the music scale. There are so many notes which I’ve never heard before! How did he manage it?”[1]

“That fellow is always such a show-off.” Xie Xiu was awed too, though there was no way he would admit it aloud. All of a sudden, a thought surfaced in his mind, and he turned to Xie Daoyun. “Big sis, you’re good at music too, right? Why don’t you compose a piece of entrance music for me too?”

Xie Daoyun shook her head and replied, “There’s something odd about this melody. It was surely written by a top-notch master musician. I’m afraid I’m unable to write melodies of the same level as this.”

Xie Xiu was stunned. “Is Zu An that talented in music?”

He saw Xie Dioyun’s eyes light up and immediately regretted saying those words. “This is a melody composed by Zu An?” his older sister asked excitedly.

Xie Xiu hesitated a moment, before deciding to come clean. Many people in Brightmoon Academy knew about this, and there was no way to hide the truth from her if she decided to look into it. “I think so. Zu An played it once in our classroom, and I’ve never heard it anywhere else before.”

“This fellow seems to be an interesting one.” Xie Daoyun looked at the figure in the dueling ring with obvious curiosity shining in her eyes.

Jiang Luofu was also looking at Zu An too, but her eyes were focused on the seashell in his hand. That seems to be Shang Liuyu’s personal possession. She actually gave him a personal item? Hmph! And you dare claim that the two of you are unrelated?

“What’s the point of putting on such a show? Don’t you feel embarrassed?”

Yuan Wendong’s face had turned as dark as charcoal. He was furious that Zu An had asked him to stop just to do this.

“What do you know? This is a ritual!” Zu An opened his hands slightly, evoking the image of the Buddha embracing the masses. “Surrounded by my BGM, I am undefeatable.”

“You’ll soon know that all of these antics of yours are completely useless. All it does is make you look like a clown!” Yuan Wendong tried his best to mock Zu An to regain some of his honor, but he felt that his skills in this aspect were lacking in comparison to his opponent’s. Despite his best efforts, he still had a feeling that he was still being one-upped, which further infuriated him.

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for 400 Rage points!

Zu An sighed deeply and said, “I really don’t know where you find the courage to say these words after getting slapped by me. Aren’t you at all embarrassed?”

Yuan Wendong nearly choked. He raged at Zu An, “I was just careless! I didn’t expect you to attack me just like that! Now that my guard is up, there’s no way you stand a chance against me anymore!”

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for 511 Rage points!

His words triggered a series of boos from the crowd. He’s a fifth rank cultivator, and yet he was struck by a good-for-nothing wastrel! How could he expect us to believe it was just carelessness?

Yuan Wendong ignored the crowd’s reaction. Snow had already informed him that, despite Zu An being a third rank cultivator, his fighting prowess was higher than usual. Therefore, he wasn’t too surprised that Zu An had actually managed to strike him with a surprise assault.

However, now that he had his guard up and his attention was fully on Zu An, there was no way that scoundrel would be able to hurt him anymore. Hmph! Just wait till I get my hands on him. I’ll snap his hands first, then…

*Pah!*

Barely had these thoughts surfaced in his mind, when there was another loud crack.

Yuan Wendong staggered weakly and nearly keeled over. His cheeks burned with a renewed stinging pain.

What just happened?

Yuan Wendong’s head swam. All he had seen earlier was a blur. He’d lost sight of Zu An for a split second, and the next moment, he had been struck once again on his cheeks.

How is this possible?

Yuan Wendong wasn’t the only one questioning reality. The spectators were equally baffled as well.

Sang Hong narrowed his eyes. Unlike the others, he had seen everything clearly with the sharp eyes that belonged to an eighth rank cultivator. Zu An had used a bizarre movement skill to get close to Yuan Wendong. His movements had simply been too quick for Yuan Wendong to react.

Shi Kun frowned deeply. He directed a stern glare at Snow and asked, “What’s going on? There was nothing in your reports to say that he possessed a movement skill of this caliber!”

Snow was equally bewildered. “I don’t know about this either! He didn’t use it the last time I fought him!”

“Useless!” Shi Kun cursed coldly before turning his gaze back to the dueling ring.

Snow’s eyes reddened as she bit down on her lips. As indignant and aggrieved as she was, she held her tongue. She knew that she wasn’t in a position to say anything more.

Jiang Luofu wore an approving smile. If I knew that he had such a trump card, I wouldn’t have worried so much for nothing.

However, the ones most shocked by this were none other than those from the Chu clan. Qin Wanru tugged her husband’s hand as she asked, “Hubby, are my eyes playing tricks on me?”

Chu Zhongtian was no less astounded. He replied with a bitter smile, “How could both of our eyes be failing at the same time?”

Judging from Zu An’s ki pulsations, it appeared that he was a third rank cultivator. However, how could a third rank cultivator move so quickly?

Apparently, Zu An had been concealing his true abilities all this while. How had he managed to secretly cultivate to this level?

Chu Chuyan’s voice was full of puzzlement. “Father, what is that movement skill he’s using? Why haven’t I seen it before?”

Chu Zhongtian shook his head and replied, “I’ve never seen it before, either.”

The one who looked happiest about this turn of events was none other than Chu Huanzhao. She looked at the figure in the dueling ring, her eyes sparkling with excitement. My brother-in-law is actually this formidable! Hmph, he’s actually been lying to me for so long. I’ll make sure to settle the score with you later on!

“Is this the standard of the Sky class students of Brightmoon Academy? Tsk!”

“What fifth rank, and what prodigy? Even a normal person can slap him so easily. Even I am stronger than him!”

“Are the two of them working with one another to put on a show?”

…

Most of those in the crowd didn’t have eyes sharp enough to see through the crux of Zu An’s movements. They simply thought that Yuan Wendong, despite being a fifth rank cultivator, was not pulling his weight, and was getting slapped by his opponent in a ridiculous manner.

Yuan Wendong’s eyes reddened as the comments from the crowd flooded down into the ring.

This bastard! How dare he humiliate me in such a manner?!

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for 1024 Rage points!

He was angry and embarrassed, but the one thing he felt most of all was astonishment. He hadn’t seen how Zu An had moved earlier, and his inability to understand what had happened was making him unable to think straight.

“You fool! Is your elemental ability just for show?! Zu An’s movement skill is a weird one, so don’t try to fight him head-on!” Wu Wei’s voice rang in his ears.

Yuan Wendong’s eyes lit up. He hadn’t thought of using his elemental ability. He had assumed that a fifth rank cultivator like him would be able to easily defeat a third rank cultivator. Besides, he was worried that injuring Zu An too severely and too soon would bring a quick end to the duel, which would deny him the opportunity to slowly torture him.

However, having been slapped twice, he decided to abandon his decision to drag the duel out. He would be more than satisfied just to rend Zu An to pieces.

“You have thoroughly enraged me!” Yuan Wendong spat as he began to back away to the corner of the dueling ring, slowly creating distance between him and Zu An. He slowly raised his hands as he commenced the standard villainous monologue. “I must admit, your movement skill is more formidable than I had expected. However, all of that is meaningless before my absolute power!”

As he spoke, the swords and sabers of the crowd near the dueling ring began to tremble, as if being summoned by some sort of mysterious force. Shocked, they quickly held on to their weapons tightly to keep them from flying away.

Only those from the Yuan clan were prepared, and allowed their swords to be taken into the dueling ring. The swords swiftly gathered around Yuan Wendong. They floated in the air before him, their points all aimed in one direction, toward Zu An.

“Is this the prowess of a fifth rank cultivator?”

“Woah! This army of flying swords is simply too awesome!”

“See! How could a fifth rank cultivator like Yuan Wendong possibly lose to that wastrel from the Chu clan?”

…

Qin Wanru was incredibly agitated. “Why didn’t Zu An use his movement skill properly to get close to Yuan Wendong and curb him? Of all the things he could have done, he simply waited quietly for Yuan Wendong to create some distance between them! What’s he going to do now? No matter how fast his movement skill is, there’s no way he can dodge all of them!”

The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt. “He’s showing off for nothing!”

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for 567 Rage points!

1. These are traditional names for music notes in ancient China. They refer to Do, Re, Mi, So, and La respectively, in today’s solfege system. The music of ancient China was based on the pentatonic scale (five notes), while modern tonal music employs up to twelve notes.