Chapter 1561: "Let's Have a Good Game (1)"
Ever since Gu Xin Yan agreed that she could "help" Jun Wu Xie test out the various effects that Spirit Reinforcement had on a weapon Ring Spirit, the two of them had then made an arrangement to meet after their cultivation training ended everyday, to carry out the tests.
And how could that obvious change escape Lin Hao Yu notice.
Lin Hao Yu was still secretly beside himself with glee at how seamlessly his plan had been carried out when just the next day, Gu Xin Yan came in bringing "good news" and that was when he really understood what it meant to be slapped across the face.
The big smile upon his good looking face immediately crumbled. Only the Heavens knew when Gu Xin Yan was elatedly and very excitedly telling him everything with a happy tinkle in her voice, just how intense the hatred had grown to become in his heart!
[How did it turn out like this?]
[Jun Wu had really chosen to become so friendly with Gu Xin Yan?]
It was obvious that Lin Hao Yu come not accept such a turn of events. He had previously paid special attention to Jun Wu for a period and had found that Jun Wu had a highly cold and indifferent personality, a stubborn boned kid that did not care about what the world thought. Even when he was put under all that harsh treatment from all the other disciples of the Cloudy Brook Academy, Jun Wu had not even shown a single trace of weakness, which had reaffirmed Lin Hao Yu's assessment of him.
But.....
How could Lin Hao Yu ever have thought! ? That things were not turning out as he had predicted.
Jun Wu still showed no signs of weakness, but he was becoming closer and closer to Gu Xin Yan! !
At that moment, Lin Hao Yu suddenly had a feeling that he had lifted up a rock only to drop it onto his own foot. He could not help but think that if he had not seeked to life miserable for Jun Wu, wanting to make the kid suffer, would Jun Wu just continue to maintain that highly unapproachable face and not become close to Gu Xin Yan?
The more he thought about it, the more Lin Hao Yu regretted his actions, his regret so strong his intestines were twisting up in agony.
If he had known this would happen, he would rather not have stuck his nose into this matter and just the relationship between Jun Wu and Gu Xin Yan remain the way it had been, and wait for Gu Xin Yan to tire of trying when things have dragged on for a longer period of time.
Unfortunately, not matter how much Lin Hao Yu regretted it, the fact was things had already become like this.
After Gu Xin Yan finished her cultivation training everyday, she no longer spent time with him discussing about the affairs of the Blood Fiend Palace but had always made arrangements to meet up Jun Wu to go somewhere with a bright smile upon her face.
Every time he saw that, Lin Hao Yu just could not help but feel like he was about to vomit out blood!
The kind of feelings he felt towards Gu Xin Yan, couldn't possibly be any more obvious. How was he expected to be able to endure seeing Gu Xin Yan go out with someone else so intimately?
However, Lin Hao Yu could not say these words to Gu Xin Yan.
And what made it worse that devastated Lin Hao Yu even further was after Gu Xin Yan became closer to Jun Wu, Gu Xin Yan issued orders to all the disciples of the Blood Fiend Palace that they were all to stop making things worse for Jun Wu. If anyone went on to curse or admonish Jun Wu, they were all to deal with it with an attitude of an ally of Jun Wu, and not continue to set him up on the sly.
The youths from the Blood Fiend Palace had no way of defying Gu Xin Yan's orders and the situation became one that tied the Blood Fiend Palace together with Jun Wu.
With Gu Xin Yan frequently appearing together with Jun Wu before everyone's eyes, the eyes of the disciples from the other palaces became strange.
The Blood Fiend Palace had worked hard to build up an illusion that they were all out to defend Jun Wu before this and now that Gu Xin Yan was seen to be getting close to Jun Wu, it made everyone believe what their eyes were seeing.
Now when they were all cursing Jun Wu, the Blood Fiend Palace was also dragged into their admonishments.
And would the youths from the Blood Fiend Palaces be able to tolerate being pointed in their noses and be chided by all the others?
Suddenly, not only did Jun Wu Xie's situation not improve, but the Blood Fiend Palace had even been dragged into the mud together and was being besieged on all sides by people from the other eleven palaces.
Chapter 1562: "Let's Have a Good Game (2)"
Such a situation, was something that Lin Hao Yu would not have even dreamed of.
Gu Xin Yan became closer and closer to Jun Wu Xie and the two of them would get together almost everyday to study Spirit Reinforcement. Jun Wu Xie did not speak much and she usually took action most of the time instead of using words to express herself. in the initial stages, Gu Xin Yan would still try to say a few words to Jun Wu Xie, but as time went by, it might be due to her being influenced by Jun Wu Xie as Gu Xin Yan also subconsciously chose to be silent like Jun Wu Xie.
With the kind of silence they so often were in when they met, Gu Xin Yan gradually came to accept that as the norm, to the extent that she became highly comfortable with it.
Although Gu Xin Yan was the Young Miss of the Blood Fiend Palace and had already long been used to using deception to face all kinds of matters, but what could not be denied was that she was in the end still just a young teenage girl and her base nature allowed her to enjoy such a simple and uncomplicated way of interacting with someone else.
Afterall, nobody would be happy having to live everyday, constantly being wary and scheming.
On this day, Gu Xin Yan and Jun Wu Xie met to study the use of several types of Spirit Reinforcement. The more Gu Xin Yan understood Spirit Reinforcement, the more she became unwilling to give up on Jun Wu. Spirit Reinforcement became too important. But at the same time, she also understood that the use of Spirit Reinforcement was not without its limits. Regardless of the time those effects lasted, or the number of times it was used, they all caused a huge drain on Jun Wu.
Hence, everytime Jun Wu Xie said to stop, Gu Xin Yan would not raise any objections.
But of course what Gu Xin Yan did not know, was the exhaustion that Jun Wu showed everyday, could in reality be a pretence that Jun Wu Xie put forth.
Back before she had come to the Middle Realm, Jun Wu Xie had still not been able to grasp the kind of drain Spirit Reinforcement took on her. But over this period of time, with her having been made to immerse herself within the wine pool, Jun Wu Xie came to discover that when she used Spirit Reinforcement, the drain upon her body had reduced quite significantly. The powers that could only sustain one use of Spirit Reinforcement in the past could now support three, which was a change that surprised Jun Wu Xie rather much.
It became clear to see that Su Ya's way of cultivation training had not gone to waste on her.
"Jun Wu, do you want to rest for a while?" Gu Xin Yan said, looking at Jun Wu's slightly pale countenance, and could not help but asked worriedly.
In the beginning, the concern she showed had been hypocritical and she had only done that only seeking to win Jun Wu over, a petty trick she employed. But it was not known from when it had started that her concern towards Jun Wu became something that spilled forth so highly naturally, to the extent that Gu Xin Yan did not wish for Jun Wu to overexert himself so much like that, thinking that having the two of them meet to just stroll around and do nothing was rather good as well.
Jun Wu Xie shook her head. "I'm fine."
Gu Xin Yan pursed her lips and said: "You don't look too well. Could you have overextended yourself recently? Why don't..... we take one day's rest tomorrow?" These words had genuinely stemmed from Gu Xin Yan's concern and she felt a little pained when she saw the slightly pale shade on Jun Wu's face.
That was a kind of feeling that Gu Xin Yan had never felt before.
Jun Wu Xie did not reply but worked on catching her breath. From what Gu Xin Yan could see, Jun Wu looked highly exhausted but only Jun Wu Xie herself knew that she was in reality checking on the kind of changes to her spirit powers within her body.
Gu XIn Yan did not dare to interrupt Jun Wu trying to recover himself and she took out her hanky and very naturally stretched her hand out to wipe at the beads of perspiration on Jun Wu's forehead.
"What are both of you doing! ?" Suddenly, a roar of rage sounded out from the side.
Lin Hao Yu's face was one of rage as he stared at the seemingly intimate pair of Jun Wu and Gu Xin Yan.
Chapter 1563: "Let's Have a Good Game (3)"
Lin Hao Yu's face was one of rage as he stared at the seemingly intimate pair of Jun Wu and Gu Xin Yan.
Gu Xin Yan was startled and she jumped from the shout from Lin Hao Yu. Her actions froze awkwardly for a moment before she realized that actions had gone beyond what she would have done usually.
Jun Wu Xie looked calmly at Lin Hao Yu who was looking absolutely livid with jealous rage.
Right from the start when the youths from all the other palaces had begun to make things difficult for her, Jun Wu Xie had realized that all of that had been due to Lin Hao Yu's actions that was instigating all of it. On the surface, Lin Hao Yu had not seemed to show any discrimination but how could Jun Wu Xie not be able to see the hatred he hid beneath that facade of peace.
Those eyes of Lin Hao Yu had never once showed her any friendliness.
Lin Hao Yu's face had turned an extremely ugly shade. He knew that Jun Wu and Gu Xin Yan had made arrangements to meet and knew where they would be. But despite him having brought up his request several times to witness for himself the uniqueness of Spirit Reinforcement, he had been tactfully rejected by Gu Xin Yan as many times.
Initially, Gu Xin Yan had only said that she did not want to cause Jun Wu to become wary, afraid that with another person there, Jun Wu might get uncomfortable and withdraw back into his shell.
But thereafter, Gu Xin Yan's rejections grew to have no specific reasons being given, her words making Lin Hao Yu feel that Gu Xin Yan just did not want another person to appear between her and Jun Wu.
A young youth in love, was just so sensitive to these things.
How could he not see the kind of change in Gu Xin Yan towards Jun Wu?
If it was said that Gu Xin Yan had initially been doing that seeking only to gain more power for the Blood Fiend Palace, Lin Hao Yu could still make himself hold back and tolerate it. But as he saw Gu Xin Yan's objective gradually changing before his eyes, and the way she gazed upon Jun Wu was no longer hypocritical, Lin Hao Yu began to find it hard to contain himself any longer.
He just could not understand how a thin and frail looking youth with such an ordinary looking countenance could compare to him in anyway?
How could it make Gu Xin Yan disregard him who had been standing by her side all this while, to instead fall to like such a useless piece of trash?
Lin Hao Yu's heart was filled with regret. If he had known from the beginning that his plan would end up pulling Gu Xin Yan and Jun Wu Xie so close together, even if you beat him to death, he would never choose to do it.
And right on this day when Lin Hao Yu saw with his own eyes how tender Gu Xin Yan was being towards Jun Wu, his heart had felt like someone had slashed him viciously across his heart, resentment and hatred tearing right at his soul, making him wish for nothing more than to immediately tear Jun Wu up into a million pieces!
"Why have you come here?" The hand Gu Xin Yan was holding the hanky with came down, and the tone of her voice was different from the gentle one she had used when facing Jun Wu when she spoke, now tinged with a trace that sounded somewhat distant.
Lin Hao Yu struggled to suppress the resentment in his heart and he forced a rather stiff smile onto his face. "I heard from Li Yue earlier that your teacher was looking for you earlier, hence, I came over to ask you to go see him."
Gu Xin Yan looked at Lin Hao Yu rather doubtfully before she reasoned that he would have no reason to lie about that and she then believed him.
When she turned her head back towards Jun Wu, her face broke into a brilliant smile once more and said: "Jun Wu, I need to go now for today. You're not really feeling well and you should go get some rest. Let's not do this tomorrow and let your body rest a few days. Anyway, we have many more days ahead of us here and there will be many more opportunities for us to continue this."
Jun Wu Xie nodded slightly.
Lin Hao Yu had to fight to push down the rage in his heart once more. Gu Xin Yan's smile was just so beautiful at that moment but that beauty had not blossomed because of him. Her every crease of the brows and wrinkle around her lips in smile just seemed to burn his eyes.
[Why was it..... not him?]
Gu Xin Yan left very soon after, leaving only Lin Hao Yu and Jun Wu Xie to stand in that spot.
Chapter 1564: "Let's Have a Good Game (4)"
When the back of Gu Xin Yan had disappeared from their sight, the stiff smile on Lin Hao Yu's face faded away together with it. His face became dark as he looked at Jun Wu who was preparing to leave.
"Jun Wu! Stay right there!" Lin Hao Yu's tone was somewhat unfriendly.
Jun Wu Xie paused slightly with her steps and turned to look at Lin Hao Yu whose eyes were flashing with jealous rage.
"I heard from Gu Xin Yan that the Spirit Reinforcement is highly unique and not something that any other races possess. But regretfully, I have not been able to witness it at all. Since I happen to be here today, won't you demonstrate it for me today?" Lin Hao Yu said as he looked at Jun Wu Xie with a smile only on the surface but felt no mirth inside.
Jun Wu Xie's cold gaze swept over Lin Hao Yu and she completely ignored his request.
Being looked at with such contempt by a kid that he himself despised, the rage in Lin Hao Yu's heart surged to new heights. He secretly clenched his jaws as he stared at the side of Jun Wu's cold and icy face.
"What? Do you think me not worth your attention or do you feel that you only need to latch on tightly to Gu Xin Yan's thigh and you can live your life without any worries?" Lin Hao Yu said with a sneering laugh.
"If you do not have that great capabilities, then you should not put on such a brave front in the beginning. Wouldn't it be easier for you if you had submitted earlier? If not for the fact that our people from the Blood Fiend Palace had been defending you from the back, you would not have been able to get out through that door of yours these past few days. So do not come here acting all high and mighty before me now. You should be glad that you belong to such a unique race and is still of some use to the Blood Fiend Palace. When others from the Spirit Mastery race appear in the world in the future, do you think that someone like you whose hands can't lift and shoulders which can't hold any load would still be of any value?" Lin Hao Yu had suppressed his rage for too long and all traces of coolheadedness in him had been completely shattered when he saw the tender concern Gu Xin Yan had shown Jun Wu.
Gu Xin Yan only wanted to Jun Wu to join the Blood Fiend Palace and he wanted to just take the kid down a peg or two so he wouldn't continue to put on such airs. Gu Xin Yan would then not need to demean herself by mixing with such lowly company like this kid.
"As fellow disciples in the Cloudy Brook Academy, I am just being nice to remind you that while you are still valued, you should grab at the opportunity and not wait till it's all gone before you turn your head back and bemoan the loss. By that time, no one would want a useless piece of trash at all." Lin Hao Yu was being extremely harsh with his words, but if not for his consideration towards Gu Xin Yan, he would really have raised his hand to strike at Jun Wu.
It wasn't that he did not understand what kind of benefits such a highly unique race could bring to the Blood Fiend Palace. It was just that he could not stand seeing how close Jun Wu and Gu Xin Yan were becoming. Every time he saw that calm and unflustered face of Jun Wu, he would always be filled with the urge to go tear that face to shreds.
Jun Wu Xie listened quietly to Lin Hao Yu words that were filled with sarcasm. The person who had been secretly pushing things from behind, seeking to drive her into the eye of the storm had finally been unable to hold himself back any longer and Gu Xin Yan had innocuously been played as the catalyst.
Admiring the sight of Lin Hao Yu being so highly flustered and exasperated, but could still not do anything to her, greatly satisfied Jun Wu Xie.
Only.....
This was still not enough.
"You've finished?" Jun Wu Xie asked calm and unfettered, like all those words Lin Hao Yu had said to her earlier had not worked in the slightest.
Lin Hao Yu's face stiffened, and his face became so dark that it looked rather terrifying.
"If you do not like it, you can very well ask Gu Xin Yan to stay away from me. That is if you have what it takes to do that." Jun Wu Xie said as her eyes flashed with an icy chill. Throwing that one statement at Lin Hao Yu's feet, she then left without even turning her head back.
Lin Hao Yu was almost mortally wounded by that one statement from Jun Wu.
Chapter 1565: "Let's Have a Good Game (5)"
If Lin Hao Yu could make Gu Xin Yan stay away from Jun Wu Xie, why would he make himself stay behind to tell Jun Wu all that he said? Jun Wu's words had struck a raw nerve which made him grit his teeth tight but was still helpless to do anything about it.
After Gu Xin Yan had seen what Jun Wu's Spirit Reinforcement could do, how could she ever want to give up on wanting to win the kid over to the Blood Fiend Palace?
Lin Hao Yu was almost going to vomit out blood from the rage surging within him.
But that was just merely the very beginning.
After Jun Wu Xie got back to her room, she summoned Ye Sha and Ye Gu.
"Young Miss." The two men knelt before Jun Wu Xie. Lord Meh Meh and the Sacrificial Blood Rabbit who were held within the two men's arms immediately took that opportunity to jump out, scuttling at great speed to go right beside Jun Wu Xie's feet to put on their more adorable looks to seek hugs from Jun Wu Xie.
Jun Wu Xie patiently carried both dumb beasts into her arms and cuddled them for a long while.
After that, Jun Wu Xie went on to say: "The two of you help me pass a message to Dumb Qiao and the others."
"Yes, Young Miss."
Qiao Chu had just returned to his room. The freshmen from the Cloudy Brook Academy had been highly rowdy the past few days and as one of the few most noticed disciples, Qiao Chu was feeling like a crane among a flock of chickens among the youths of the Flame Demons Palace, having been subjected to all kinds of flattery and compliments from them all. To someone with his kind of personality, being fawned upon like that felt great at first but he could not help but feel a little unused to it.
"Young Master Qiao." The figure of Ye Sha suddenly appeared within Qiao Chu's room.
Qiao Chu's face immediately split into a wide grin filled with delight. "Big Brother Ye Sha!"
Compared to all those endless flattery and fawning youths, Qiao Chu very much prefered to be together with Ye Sha and all the others. Despite his powers being inferior to Ye Sha, he felt a whole lot more at home with that bunch.
"Is Young Master Qiao doing well?" Ye Sha then asked.
Qiao Chu sighed heavily, unable to help himself as he lamented mournfully: "Well! ? Sheesh! The entire bunch of them are just so tiresome! I have never met a more irritating bunch!" Qiao Chu really could no longer stand all those boot licking toadies. He really could not understand. As an entire bunch of youths who were all largely similar in age, why must everyone of them scheme and plot so much? If they all just treated him normally, he wouldn't need to feel so frustrated.
The deliberate flattery the youths all heaped upon him had made Qiao Chu feel rather tired of them.
In fact, such a situation was to be expected. With the magnificent display Qiao Chu had put up in the Battle of Deities Grand Meet, it had led him to become the most prominent and highly valued disciple among the freshmen of the Flame Demons Palace. The other youths picked by the Flame Demons Palace were not that stupid and they knew that they could not compare to Qiao Chu in anyway. They know that Qiao Chu would surely soar to great heights within the Flame Demons Palace in the future and they wanted to get the first foot in by establishing a good relationship with him, to lay a foundation stone for their own future.
But though they understood that concept, the youths were afterall still a little too green. The manner they used to try to win Qiao Chu's friendship was much too blatant and obvious which already tired Qiao Chu out just by feigning innocence.
Ye Sha was helpless against Qiao Chu's laments. This bunch of little companions that Jun Wu Xie had were all rather honest and upright people, and faced with these hypocritical and circuitous vipers, they weren't all that skilled in dealing with them.
"Young Miss has a message she wants me to pass to you."
"Oh?" When Qiao Chu heard that Jun Wu Xie has something to say to him, he immediately perked up.
He knew very well what Jun Wu Xie's situation in the Cloudy Brook Academy was like. There were so many instances that he wanted to just charge forward to shield his little companion from the storm but had no choice but to restrain himself, forcing himself to endure it for the sake of the bigger task they had planned in the future.
"What did she say? Quick, quick! Tell me!"
Ye Sha whispered some words in Qiao Chu's ear and Qiao Chu's face immediately broke into an expression of shock and delight.
"Haha! Our Little Xie is just downright evil! But I like it! You can go tell her to rest assured. I will settle all of this well and proper." Qiao Chu said, thumping himself on the chest in guarantee.
Ye Sha nodded and because he had to go inform Fan Zhuo and the others with Ye Gu, he did not tarry long there.
Chapter 1566: "Let's Have a Good Game (6)"
Ye Sha had just set foot outside when Qiao Chu already went out of his door, knocking upon the room doors of the other youths from the Flame Demons Palace. When those youths heard Qiao Chu's voice shouting for them, they all immediately came rushing out to him one by one.
Among the batch of freshmen from the Flame Demons Palace, they had all already recognized Qiao Chu to be their lead sheep, everyone of them wishing that they would be able to interact more with Qiao Chu. But Qiao Chu's attitude had always been lukewarm towards them but made quite a number of them rather anxious. On this rare occasion when Qiao Chu had come find them, wouldn't they rush to go stick to him?
"Big Brother Qiao, is anything the matter for you to come looking for us?" A youth who was a year or two older than Qiao Chu opened his mouth to ask earnestly.
Qiao Chu sat upon his chair and looked at the group of people he had gathered with a laugh. Although it was only a portion of them, it was already enough!
"I heard that the guys from the Blood Fiend Palace haven't really been too honest recently. Is that true?" Qiao Chu asked, trying to look deep and intelligent.
The gathered youths turned to look at each other, their heads turning to their left and right.
Among the Twelve Palaces, the Palace of Flame Demons and the Blood Fiend Palace were the mightiest and the two palaces were constantly fueding, where minor conflicts often broke out between them even in the Cloudy Brook Academy. The two parties had been at loggerheads for a long time and with Qiao Chu asking them such a question, all the youths immediately became excited, fighting to be the first to speak up.
"The Blood Fiend Palace had never been honest since the term started and I do not know from where they are getting all that confidence. Hadn't that Jun Wu from the Spirit Jade Palace been highly arrogant in his ways previously? I don't know what kind of medicine those guys from the Blood Fiend Palace took but all of them had come running forward to defend that kid which caused them to get into quite a number of squabbles with many people."
"That's right! I was even too embarrassed to tell it to them! What has someone from the Spirit Jade Palace got to do with their Blood Fiend Palace at all? What does it matter to them that people are speaking ill of that Jun Wu that all of them had to jump forward so aggressively to defend that kid! ? He's not even from the Blood Fiend Palace at all!"
Once the Blood Fiend Palace was mentioned, all those youths seemed to have endless words of contempt for them. One insult was hurled after another, berating the entire Blood Fiend Palace all the way from head to their toes.
Hearing all that, Qiao Chu was secretly feeling very pleased, but his face was one that looked like he was deep in thought.
"I'm sure everyone here knows very well that the Blood Fiend Palace isn't not on good terms with our Flame Demons Palace and we are all constantly at in conflict with each other. Although we all have not officially joined the Flame Demons Palace, we are all people personally picked by the Flame Demons Palace. When I was first admitted into this academy, I had thought that we were all here to cultivate our powers and could not be bothered with those people from the Blood Fiend Palace. But those guys from the Blood Fiend Palace are now starting to get a little overboard and it seems like they are getting somewhat above themselves. All of us from the Flame Demons Palace had never been afraid of the Blood Fiend Palace and I think we must not allow the name of the Flame Demons Palace to be disgraced, isn't that right?" Qiao Chu spoke inspiringly with a strong sense of righteousness, and the youths all nodded their heads vehemently in agreement.
"I think I do not have to spell it out in words but we all know that both the two palaces are seeking to claim the dominant over all the Twelve Palaces. Now that the Blood Fiend Palace are being so high handed in their ways, do they really think they can just boss over everyone in here as they wish and we are to tolerate them without doing anything? If the Elders in our palace gets to know about this when we leave the Cloudy Brook Academy in the future, that we had to skirt our way around the guys from the Blood Fiend Palace while we were in here, wouldn't it look like we are all just terrified of them?" Qiao Chu continued to fan up the group of youths.
They were all an entire bunch of youths who were not that old yet and they were all filled with the hot blood of youthful exuberance at that age. With that challenging tone used by Qiao Chu, the bunch of youths immediately started recalling all the arrogant ways the disciples from the Blood Fiend Palace had acted, and their brows all creased up one by one.
"Big Brother Qiao, what do you say we must do? We'll all back you up on this!"
"That's right! Big Brother Qiao! Point us in the right direction! We are not willing to suffer the atrocities of the Blood Fiend Palace! When I see the cocky faces of those guys, the anger just rises inside me!"
The bunch of youths quickly broke out in endless shouts of protest.
Chapter 1567: "Let's Have a Good Game (7)"
Qiao Chu did not show any reaction on his face but his heart had already bloomed up with joy. The words he used had been based on a format Jun Wu Xie had once used before to incite the hearts of people, and the effects were really astounding!
"No matter what we do, we must never disgrace the name of the Flame Demons Palace. The Blood Fiend Palace had been arrogant for far too long and they need someone take them down a peg or two. We need to make them realize that the entire Middle Realm is not theirs to ride roughshod over anyone as they please!" Qiao Chu said with a sneer.
The youths around him immediately rang out in chorus, in complete agreement.
From that moment on, the youths of the Flame Demons Palace initiated their persecution and interception against whatever the Blood Fiend Palace did!
Within the Cloudy Brook Academy, there were no rules inhibiting the disciples from fighting. The Cloudy Brook Academy had always adhered by the law of the jungle. As long as there were able to overpower their opponent, they were free to do as they wished.
And that highly unique rule of the academy would then bring about the "war" among the freshmen of the Cloudy Brook Academy.
It was not known whether it was just pure coincidence, but the Cloudy Brook Academy had disciples from five different palaces suddenly setting themselves against the Blood Fiend Palace, and those five palaces were all highly powerful as well. Even the Flame Demons Palace who held a similar level of might with the Blood Fiend Palace had also struck at them.
At that time, the Blood Fiend Palace suddenly found themselves in an extremely bad situation.
Almost every single day, the disciples from the other palaces would somehow either provoke or challenge the youths from the Blood Fiend Palace.
If it had been only one of the palaces, the Blood Fiend Palace would be able to deal with it adequately. Even if it was the Flame Demons Palace, they would still be able to be on par with the opponent.
But the current situation was.....
The Flame Demons Palace, Dragon Slayers Palace, Soul Return Palace, Dark Heavens Palace, Purple Thunder Palace, the youths from these five palaces putting themselves against the Blood Fiend Palace all at the same time, which created an extremely lopsided playing field.
No matter how strong the youths from the Blood Fiend Palace were, they would not be able to withstand the successive provocations from the different palaces in turns. Moreover, all the five palaces were above average in terms of might among the Twelve Palaces, the strongest ones among them, which really put the youths from the Blood Fiend Palace in a very tight spot.
Every single day, regardless of which faculty the youths from the Blood Fiend Palace were in, immediately after they finished their cultivation training, they would surrounded and blocked off by people from the other palaces, and endlessly taunted and provoked in all manner of ways, to use that as a reason to strike at them. What made it more terrifying was that those people completely disregarded all sense of fairness, always surrounding the Blood Fiend Palace's disciples to attack, beating them down before they even said a word!
The Blood Fiend Palace had quite a significant amount of people and they usually moved around at least in pairs. But that was still not enough to counter the kind of oppression they received from five different palaces. It was often when a group of their people had just walked out from their faculty and they would immediately be surrounded and blocked by people from the other five palaces, to be beaten up in batches by them all, rendering the youths from the Blood Fiend Palace to be completely defenceless.
Regardless of how powerful the Blood Fiend Palace could possibly be, they would not be able to withstand such impossible odds of one against five.
It didn't take long before almost everyone from the Blood Fiend Palace were all marked with some form of injury upon their bodies where even Lin Hao Yu was not spared. One day right after his cultivation training ended, he was suddenly pinned down straight onto the ground by Qiao Chu right in front of the gates of his faculty and bashed till his head swelled to look like one of a pig!
Qiao Chu was just too powerful, a unmatched prodigy who had broken through to a true Purple Spirit. From what other people out there could see, only Rong Ruo from the Soul Return Palace and Hua Yao from the Purple Thunder Palace would be a match for him. Though Lin Hao Yu held possessed rather significant powers himself, but when pitted against a youth of such a maniacal level like Qiao Chu, Lin Hao Yu was still lacking by quite a lot. The scene where he was pressed into the ground and pounded defenceless by Qiao Chu right before the faculty gates had been witnessed by a large number of people passing by.
Qiao Chu had not shown any mercy towards Lin Hao Yu when he struck. The time when Jun Wu Xie had been attacked on all sides by everyone was still clear in Qiao Chu's mind and he knew all along that it was all due to Lin Hao Yu's doing from behind the scenes. With a rare opportunity like this that gave Qiao Chu a valid reason to bash someone like him up, Qiao Chu had immediately snatched at the chance and released all his highly pent up rage at that moment!
Chapter 1568: "Let's Have a Good Game (8)"
Lin Hao Yu was completely defenceless under Qiao Chu's hands, completely unable to retaliate in the slightest, beaten up till his mouth turned all bloodied and even losing a few of his teeth. It was only after Qiao Chu had enough of pummelling him that he finally released him, the badly thrashed Lin Hao Yu lying like a hapless muddy heap upon the ground, unable to even groan out from the pain.
In the end, Lin Hao Yu was only carried away when other disciples from the Blood Fiend Palace were chased over to that spot, the people doing the carrying similarly sporting black and blue welts on their faces, obviously having already been taught a good lesson by people from the other palaces.
The only person who was spared the misery was only Gu Xin Yan. Gu Xin Yan's identity was special as she was the daughter of the Blood Fiend Palace's Palace Lord and even if the disciples from the other palaces were filled with rage in their hearts, no one really dared to find trouble with Gu Xin Yan. Added to that was the fact that Gu Xin Yan was a girl with a pretty face and the other youths were less inclined to be able to strike her.
But even when Gu Xin Yan had not taken any beating, when she saw the state all the other people from the Blood Fiend Palace were in, her face was turned a highly dark shade as well.
"Just what is really happening?" Gu Xin Yan said through gritted teeth as she stared at all the youths who had been beaten up all black and blue. She had not thought that the Flame Demons Palace would really dare to make things so difficult for them while they were all in the Cloudy Brook Academy.
Those five other palaces had acted as if they had come to an agreement beforehand, to initiate the attack upon them at the very same moment, catching the Blood Fiend Palace completely unawares.
A youth whose head had been beaten to swell up to almost twice its size looked at Gu Xin Yan with tears and snot running down his face and said: "We don't know what happened as well. The Flame Demons Palace had just suddenly jumped on us seeking to find trouble, not even giving us a single chance to even open our mouths to say anything. The moment they see people from our Blood Fiend Palace, they would immediately jump on us."
When he was attacked, he had not even realized what was going on, where he did not even had a chance to fight back before he was knocked to the ground and a storm of blows had immediately rained down on him, beating him untill he was hopelessly dazed.
"And the teachers did not even do anything about it?" Gu Xin Yan said as her brows kneaded up together tightly. Although there were others from the Blood Fiend Palace that were also in the Ring Spirit faculty like her, but as the Ring Spirit she possessed was one that was capable of transformation, when classes were taught, she was mostly separated from the rest and she had absolutely no idea that when she was returning back here, all the others from the Blood Fiend Palace were being assaulted.
It was only when they all returned that she saw the whole place completely filled with youths who had their faces all badly bruised and swollen.
At that moment, Lin Hao Yu was still unconscious upon his bed. That merciless bout of beating from Qiao Chu had not only completely rearranged the face of Lin Hao Yu, he had inflicted highly severe internal injuries upon him. Now that Lin Hao Yu still had not awoken, several of the youths from the Medical Proficiency faculty were staying right by his bedside, providing treatment for Lin Hao Yu.
"The teachers have said it before. The Cloudy Brook Academy does not involve themselves in such matters as it is purely based on one's strength. If anyone is beaten up, they can only blame it on their lack of skills." One youth lamented ruefully.
If it had been one on one and they were defeated, their hearts might not feel so indignant. But now that the situation was one against five, no matter how strong they were, they had no way of securing victory based on their own abilities!
Gu Xin Yan's brows knitted together. She really could not make head or tail of the current situation at that moment.
How had the Blood Fiend Palace offended the other five palaces to bring about such a situation?
The Blood Fiend Palace was brutally beaten to a pulp and there were five palaces who partook in it. The other six palaces that did not play a part in it were just remaining on the sidelines with intentions only to enjoy the show. Those might of those six palaces were not a match for the Flame Demons Palace and the Blood Fiend Palace and they would naturally not dare carry things so far with the Blood Fiend Palace, but that would not prevent them from adding fuel to the fire.
With the Blood Fiend Palace being attacked on so many fronts, the people from the other six palaces gradually began to fan up groundless rumours about the Blood Fiend Palace.
Chapter 1569: "Let's Have a Good Game (9)"
The Blood Fiend Palace had really tripped up badly this time round. Gu Xin Yan's face was looking worse and worse. The situation continued on like that for several days, putting her in such an awful mood that caused Gu Xin Yan to not even feel like continuing the tests with Spirit Reinforcement which was halted temporarily.
Gu Xin Yan could not understand just what was really happening.
Why had the Flame Demons Palace suddenly seemed like they were specifically targeting the Blood Fiend Palace, in endless pursuit for the past consecutive days without rest?
And what made Gu Xin Yan feel highly edgy about was when she realized that besides the five palaces who were openly attacking them, the attitude of the other six palaces towards them frightened her as well. Although they did not strike directly at them, the mocking tone and words of ridicule against them was gradually increasing in intensity where people who had previously gotten into conflict with the Blood Fiend Palace but had not dared to utter a word due to the might of the Blood Fiend Palace were now jumping right out to mercilessly curse and berate the Blood Fiend Palace completely.
The Blood Fiend Palace had gone from being the one who commanded the winds and clouds when the academy term started to being gradually pushed right into the eye of the storm.
The disciples of the Blood Fiend Palace were surrounded and soundly persecuted by everyone daily and they were all forced to suffer a fate worse than death. The endless pain on their bodies and the mental torture on their minds caused them to be unable to calm themselves sufficiently for their cultivation training, to fall way behind their peers in the same grade.
Gu Xin Yan could tolerate many things, but this was just one thing that she was unable to endure!
If the torture continued on like this, the powers of the disciples from the Blood Fiend Palace would slacken which was as good as weakening the future might of the Blood Fiend Palace!
That maniacal situation persisted for half a month and within the Blood Fiend Palace, with the exception of Gu Xin Yan who was not injured in the slightest, all the other disciples carried out their cultivation training with injuries, the situation extremely dire.
The youths who were bashed up had no idea just what they had done to anger the Gods that would make all the other eleven palaces detest them so much.
In fact, Gu Xin Yan had considered where someone was stirring up all this trouble behind the scenes but according to the news she gathered, the relationship between five palaces attacking them were not that good and there were many instances of conflicts between them as well, to the extent that the most powerful disciple from the Flame Demons Palace, Qiao Chu and the strongest disciple from the Purple Thunder Palace, Hua Yao in the same batch as them had engaged in a brawl right in the open in front of everyone before the Battle of Deities Grand Meet had even begun. Things between the two of them were like fire and water, where if they encountered each other within the Cloudy Brook Academy, sparks would fly and another fight would grow imminent. The situation was mostly similar with the other three palaces as well.
Those leading youths from the various palaces could not see eye to eye with each other and if she was told that someone was truly able to make these five people bend to his will and simultaneously target the Blood Fiend Palace, she would never be able to make herself believe it. Afterall, the astounding powers of those youths were plain for all to see and they all belonged to different palaces. If someone could really make them all comply to his command, then that would really be truly terrifying.
And that line of thought was quickly eliminated by Gu Xin Yan as a possibility.
But not even in her dreams would Gu Xin Yan have thought that that highly improbable thought was in fact the entire truth.
It was just that that truth was just too shocking for anyone to even dare to believe.
And that was how Gu Xin Yan just passed the truth by, brushing her shoulder against it.
Gu Xin Yan could not longer allow herself to just sit back. If the situation continued on like that, though she herself would still remain fine, the other youths in the Blood Fiend Palace would not be able to survive their days here within the Cloudy Brook Academy. Completely helpless, Gu Xin Yan could only try to seek for a way to resolve the issue. She used her position as the Young Miss of the Blood Fiend Palace to separately invite Qiao Chu from the Flame Demons Palace, Rong Ruo from the Soul Return Palace, Fei Yan from the Dragon Slayers Palace, Hua Yao from the Purple Thunder Palace, and Fan Zhuo from the Dark Heavens Palace for a little chat.
Chapter 1570: "Apologies, But We're Not That Close (1)"
The five youths that Gu Xin Yan invited were the five most powerful people from the five different palaces and they were also the leaders of the disciples from the individual palaces within the Cloudy Brook Academy's freshmen batch.
To capture a bandit you must first target the leader. That was a logic that Gu Xin Yan was aware of. Only by resolving their enmity against the Blood Fiend Palace would she be able to make the five palaces stop their attacks.
Besides Qiao Chu and the others, Gu Xin Yan had also invited Jun Wu to come. Because of the things that were happening to the Blood Fiend Palace, the two of them had not met to test out Spirit Reinforcement for quite a time. Gu Xin Yan had invited Jun Wu to come where she would then seek for a sort of reconciliation between the parties.
The Blood Fiend Palace had been so prominent in the Cloudy Brook Academy largely because of Jun Wu and hence, Gu Xin Yan had suspected whether it had been because of what Lin Hao Yu had done to force Jun Wu to submit that caused the disciples of the Blood Fiend Palace to fall into dispute with the disciples from the other palaces, making the other palaces feel so much against them.
Gu Xin Yan wanted to use Jun Wu's issue to resolve the conflict between the palaces.
And Jun Wu Xie accepted Gu Xin Yan's invitation.
Gu Xin Yan set the meeting point for the discussion by a lake in the Cloudy Brook Academy. By the lake, it was a full canopy of jade green, filled with the chirping of birds and the fragrance of flowers, a highly relaxing place of tranquillity, a place that quite a number of the freshmen liked to spend time at. The reason Gu Xin Yan chose that place was firstly to soften the tense atmosphere and also because she wished the words she was going to say today would be heard by people from the other palaces around the lake so that they would spread her words to the various palaces.
Afterall, Gu Xin Yan had to watch the Blood Fiend Palace's reputation. As the other six palaces were not mighty enough to be pitted against the Blood Fiend Palace and they were not qualified for her to invite them to the meeting. But in view of the circumstances the Blood Fiend Palace was in, she had no other choice.
It must be said Gu Xin Yan's mind was rather nimble to have considered so many factors and as a girl, even if she spoke meekly, no one would feel that it was in anyway inappropriate as being a young and beautiful girl like her had its perks.
On that day, Gu Xin Yan brought Lin Hao Yu along with her and came to the agreed meeting place bright and early. Under a pavilion by the lake, she sat quietly upon a stone bench, looking out for Qiao Chu and the others who were late.
Qiao Chu was walking to the place when coincidentally, he happened to bump into the cold faced Hua Yao.
At the very moment he spotted Hua Yao, Qiao Chu's eyes lit up. In order to keep up the pretense, Qiao Chu had not dared to have any interaction with his comrades after coming to Mount Fu Yao but having become so used to sticking to Hua Yao for such a long time, Qiao Chu could not help himself but still feel rather somewhat dejected.
Being able to see Hua Yao after such a long time, Qiao Chu almost could not suppress the excitement in his heart. He wished he could just leap with his paws open, to give his Brother Hua a big bear hug.
The sharp Hua Yao had naturally noticed that Dumb Qiao feelings at that moment and being the much calmer one compared to Qiao Chu, he saw that the corners of Qiao Chu's lips were right about to reveal a smile, he quickly said in a chilling voice: "Good dogs do not stand in a person's way. Haven't you even learnt to do that?"
Qiao Chu's heart which had been filled with delight had a whole bucket of ice thrown right into his face by the cold and highly composed Hua Yao and the smile that had not even been revealed instantly withered.
Qiao Chu was feeling so mightily aggrieved. Brother Hua's tongue was just too vicious and he felt that his tender little heart had been hurt.
"Har? So your family owns this road?" Qiao Chu attempted to say with a snarl, but deep inside his heart.....
[Brother Hua~ How could you be so heartless! ? My teeny weeny heart hurts so much!]
Hua Yao gazed icily at Qiao Chu and then carried on walking his own way forward. Qiao Chu could do nothing but to follow sorrowfully behind, except that the expression on his face only showed pure hatred to the people looking at him at that moment.