Dong Fang Yue Chu was explaining the rules of the qualifiers to me, as if I didn't already hear them the previous chapter. I nodded distractedly.

"Okay."

"Don't 'okay' me!" Dong Fang Yue Chu snapped. "Why are you behaving as if this has nothing to do with you?! It's almost a week and you still have yet to fight in any of the qualifying matches…except the one against Tie Quan!"

Originally, Vincent had given us all a week to run the qualifiers, and the top five by the end of the week would get the chance to partic.i.p.ate in the Spiritual Road. Other than Tie Quan, who had kept his word and challenged me on the first day, I hadn't fought any other qualifying matches.

Needless to say, I destroyed Tie Quan. Without even summoning my Celestial Guardians. I just nuked him with an arrow from Sagittarius near the start of the match, which completely shattered his Iron Spirit and incinerated his more vulnerable body within. The poor guy didn't stand a chance. After the match, even though I knew it was extremely childish, I still had to ask him.

"How does it feel to lose to someone who lost 99 matches in a row? In just a few seconds? Thanks for breaking my losing streak."

As the guy was on a stretcher, he could do nothing more than glare at me from his blackened face. I ignored him and left the arena, and for the rest of the week, I usually went straight "home" after school. Or to be more precise, the moment cla.s.ses ended, I took up certain missions that helped me obtain intelligence regarding the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild's movements. Not all of them were combat missions, and a lot involved going undercover and sneaking around to check for their presence at certain premises. Often I was disappointed when they proved to be false alarms, but hey, at least I tried.

I expected as much, though. After the Jing Tian City invasion incident, the Federation military and Internal Security Agency had rooted out whatever a.s.sa.s.sins they could find in the city. They did a thorough investigation to ensure there were no sleeper agents or long-term undercover a.s.sa.s.sins hiding in there. They even cast spells to check that each person was not a Deceivum a.s.sa.s.sin who had shapes.h.i.+fted to a.s.sume the ident.i.ty of another person. Particularly with what happened in regards to Alicia Violet, the added measure of security was certainly necessary.

However, it was still discouraging to not find any information thus far. I toyed with the idea of leaving Jing Tian City and going out to somewhere…like that time in Azpire City. Not Azpire City – they had yet to rebuild and repopulate it after Selina Wright and her summoned spirit, Hades, had absolutely destroyed it. But there were plenty of other cities that I could investigate. The a.s.sa.s.sins Guild definitely had their tendrils coiled almost everywhere throughout the Federation.

I was going to track down their agents and hopefully go all the way to their current Grand Master. Anastasia, however, explained that it would be impossible, as each of the sects had their own separate bases and masters, and the Grand Master himself was elusive, his location not known to even the respective masters of each a.s.sa.s.sin Sect. she had never seen or heard him herself, or at least she didn't think so. It was just as likely that he had disguised himself as one of the many people she had interacted with, but hid his real ident.i.ty from her.

Then again, the Grand Master of a.s.sa.s.sins would hardly bother himself with a rank-and-file a.s.sa.s.sin like herself. So it was unlikely that he would personally eliminate a defector such as her. And she was able to take care of herself against the other a.s.sa.s.sins sent to eliminate her. Apparently she was one of the more skilled ones within her guild.

Perhaps I should contact her…

"Hey! Richard! Are you paying attention?!"

I returned to the present. Dong Fang Yue Chu was glaring at me, his hands on his hips. I nodded hastily.

"Yeah, sorry. But like I said, I don't really care about the whole Spiritual Road thing. I have more important matters to take care of."

"Chasing after the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild again?" Dong Fang Yue Chu shook his head. "You should just leave that to your dad and the adults. Even if you pursue them, what can you do? At most you can fight against the a.s.sa.s.sin trainees and perhaps the lower-ranked a.s.sa.s.sins. But what can you do against the elite a.s.sa.s.sins? The top a.s.sa.s.sins? You'll just be throwing your life away recklessly if you try to go after them."

"Ha ha ha ha!" I burst out laughing, earning a glare from him. But I couldn't help it. "Sorry to burst your bubble, dude, but…when he was my age, my dad was already fighting elite a.s.sa.s.sins. Okay, he kind of needed help and in the end sacrificed a lot to summon a spirit to defeat an elite a.s.sa.s.sin, but that didn't stop him from confronting them in battle. And did you forget that I was part of a two-man team who defeated the Grim Reaper, one of the top, elite a.s.sa.s.sins of the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild?"

Well, one-man and one-woman team, to be honest, but that was quite a mouthful. Besides, it was a lot more gender neutral in Chinese so we didn't have to be so a.n.a.l about being politically correct and cater to the social justice warriors if the story was written in Chinese. Well, right now it was in English, but it should be translated to Chinese someday…I hope?

Dong Fang Yue Chu looked a little chagrined when he realized that it was true. At that time, Anastasia and my victory over Selina Wright and Hades had made the huge splash in the news, and despite the news keeping my ident.i.ty under wraps because I requested it, he had managed to discover that I was involved.

"Yeah, okay. But we can't lose you now. We have no way of contacting Troy and getting him to come back, Alicia is…gone, and without you, the Jing Tian team doesn't stand a chance against the other schools in the Federation!"

"You're kidding me, right? You'll do fine without me." I snorted. "What, you think I'm some sort of Mary Sue character that the world revolves around? No one will care if I'm gone. You'll probably do much better without me in the team, actually."

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? You're currently the strongest student in Jing Tian Academy. You're supposed to be the ace! If you're not partic.i.p.ating, then how are we going to fight against the likes of Crowley's Grand Academy, Vermillion Academy and the others?"

"Normally?" I suggested sarcastically. "Use your magic? Techniques? Are you guys suddenly going to forget how to fight just because I'm not in the team or something?"

Dong Fang Yue Chu gave me a stare, and then sighed before shaking his head.

"I'll go for my match now. I have one lined up right now. I'm actually trailing behind in terms of points, but I'll try my best to make up for it today." He straightened himself and headed for the arena.

As he was my friend, I decided to provide moral support. I didn't really have a mission today anyway, so I might as well watch over my friend. For those edge lords yelling at me for wasting my time or being a p.u.s.s.y or a beta male who allows other people to dictate my life, well, screw you. If I wanted to watch my friend fight and cheer for him, I will. That had nothing to do with me being a f.u.c.king p.u.s.s.y or a beta male, and everything with Dong Fang Yue Chu being a good friend of mine.

To my surprise, the matches today were different from what I was used to, especially that first match against Tie Quan at the beginning of the week. The teachers were standing in what seemed to be an upper alcove overseeing the arena. Sitting in seiza around the arena were a whole bunch of students in uniform, waiting serenely. For some reason, all of them were wearing black belts and their hair was closely cropped.

What were they doing, behaving like the military who learned karate or something?

Dong Fang Yue Chu strode to the middle of the arena, and then cupped his hands respectively toward the teachers, who then began the match. One of the students who were kneeling around the arena rose when his name was called, and he proceeded to the arena. While Dong Fang Yue Chu cupped his hands, his opponent bowed.

…why was this scene so familiar?

Without further ado, they began the match. Dong Fang Yue Chu immediately charged forward. His opponent generated water, tidal waves flowing around his hands as he stepped back to evade Dong Fang Yue Chu's first flaming punch, and then retaliated with a strike. Tremendous hydro pressure accompanied his attack, but Dong Fang Yue Chu managed to parry it. Where water met fire, it instantly transformed into steam that clouded the arena.

Dong Fang Yue Chu and the water mage exchanged several fierce blows, with embers and water droplets scattering across the scorched coliseum. Dong Fang Yue Chu threw a hook, which the water mage deflected to the side, and then the latter countered with an eblow to his temple. Dong Fang Yue Chu managed to parry that with his forearm, then he twisted his waist and rammed his knee into the water mage's midriff.

The other party staggered back, and desperately retaliated with a torrent of water that surged across the ring. Dong Fang Yue Chu didn't bother evaporating it, and instead dove to the ground to evade the devastating burst. As he rolled to his feet, he hurled a fireball at his opponent.

The water mage barely managed to conjure a water sphere in time, but then the consequent explosion sent him skidding backward, his watery barrier boiling into steam. He choked for a moment and waved the white fog away.

Dong Fang Yue Chu came barreling through it and his fiery fist smashed into the guy's face, breaking his nose. The water mage cried out in pain as his head snapped back, but Dong Fang Yue Chu wasn't done yet. The fire mage whirled around and kicked him with such force that the guy was sent flying out of the ring.

There was silence, and several medics came forward to help the poor unconscious mage up and into a stretcher. Dong Fang Yue Chu raised his head to look at the teachers, which included Teacher Fielding and a thin, bespectacled teacher, Zuo Teng.

"Well done," Teacher Fielding told him, and then he nodded to a student aide. The uniformed guy quickly grabbed a sack of rice and tossed it toward Dong Fang Yue Chu, who effortlessly caught it. "As promised, you get a sack of rice for defeating one opponent."

"What the f.u.c.k?!" I exploded. "Isn't this the qualifier matches to see who gets to partic.i.p.ate in the Spiritual Road training camp?! Aren't we supposed to get points from a victory?! Why the rice?!"

"It's fine. I'm hungry, anyway. This will help me a lot." Dong Fang Yue Chu raised a hand to stop me. "And it's just an extra. I still get the points for winning."

"That's right," Teacher Fielding confirmed, keeping a straight face throughout the entire thing. I wasn't sure if I should keep up the tsukkomi role or not.

"But…if you don't mind." Dong Fang Yue Chu faced the two teachers standing on the above alcove overlooking the stage. "I wish to fight three people this time."

"Heh, really?" Zuo Teng scoffed. Teacher Fielding, on the other hand, looked sternly at Dong Fang Yue Chu.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I believe I get triple the amount of rice…I mean points if I defeat three people."

"You do, but…" Teacher Fielding rubbed his forehead. "It's kind of risky."

"I know. But I want to try." Dong Fang Yue Chu swallowed. "I need the points if I want to partic.i.p.ate in the Spiritual Road training camp."

"Okay, then." Teacher Fielding nodded and gave his consent. Beside him, Zuo Teng barked out three names and gave them orders.

"Take to the field!"

"Hai!"

The three martial artists…I mean mages whose names were called stood up and proceeded toward the stage. As usual, Dong Fang Yue Chu cupped his hands, and the three of them bowed. Then, with a word from Teacher Fielding, they began.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

With a yell, Dong Fang Yue Chu charged at them. The three of them immediately split up, but the fire mage didn't care. He tossed two fireb.a.l.l.s at the two mages moving to flank him, forcing them to dodge, and launched a fiery punch at the opponent in the center.

Earth walls erupted from the ground and between Dong Fang Yue Chu and his intended target. Even so, Dong Fang Yue Chu's flaming fist left molten rock in its wake. Behind the earth walls, the earth mage twisted his hands to manipulate more of the earthen rock that was bursting from the ground. Dong Fang Yue Chu managed to dodge some of them while obliterating those he couldn't evade with his flaming fists.

However, the earth spells weren't the only ones he had to worry about. Ice froze across the ground and ensnared his legs, immobilizing him. Dong Fang Yue Chu cursed and tried to yank his legs out while melting the ice with a surge of fire around him, but that second of delay was more than enough for the earth mage to hit him with a pillar of stone.

"Gah!"

Dong Fang Yue Chu was hurled off his feet, but he managed to counter with a ma.s.sive fireball that smashed through the earth barrier that the earth mage had conjured and knocked him off his feet. The poor earth mage shrieked in agony, his body immolated, as he rolled about the ground desperately to put out the flames.

Meanwhile, Dong Fang Yue Chu had just barely rose to his feet when the ice mage reached him. He threw his head back to dodge the ice sword that the ice mage had materialized, and then raised his flaming arms to block an ice dagger in his opponent's other hand.

Taking a deep breath, he lashed out with his leg, trying to sweep his opponent's feet out from under him, but the ice mage jumped. Abandoning his dagger, he raised his now empty hand and froze several frozen daggers in the air before launching them at Dong Fang Yue Chu.

The fire mage countered by swinging his hand and erecting a literal firewall that vaporized the icy daggers. Even as he did so, the lightning mage punched him from behind, injecting a tremendous amount of electricity into his body.

"AAAAAAAAARGH!"

Even as he convulsed and flailed violently, Dong Fang Yue Chu managed to whirl around and blast the guy with twin streams of flames. The lightning mage was sent hurtling across the ring, scorched and charred, but he crashed just upon the edge of the arena, preventing himself from being flung outward.

Even as he scrambled to safety, Dong Fang Yue Chu readied to deliver the finis.h.i.+ng blow, but the ice mage stabbed him from behind. Blood streaming from his lips, Dong Fang Yue Chu smashed his elbow into the backstabber's face, breaking his nose and causing him to fall back. Twisting around, he kicked the guy, sending him toppling to the side.

However, he barely put his foot down when a solid pillar of rock slammed into him, causing him to cough out more blood. He was sent cras.h.i.+ng onto the ground several meters away. Gritting his teeth, he blasted the rock apart with flames, but no sooner had his fire spell dissipated when several bolts of lightning crashed down on him.

Cursing and swearing, Dong Fang Yue Chu staggered to his feet, only for his body to end up entombed in ice. He vaporized the frozen block with his flames, but another barrage of earth spikes slammed into his body, impaling him to the ground.

He writhed and tried to melt the rock spikes that pinned him, but the lightning mage stepped up and added to the attack by bombarding him with lightning.

"All right! I give up! It's my loss!"

Dong Fang Yue Chu, realizing that his body had acc.u.mulated too much damage, wisely surrendered. Coughing out blood, he lay on the ground helplessly for a few moments as the teachers and his opponents acknowledged his surrender. The three mages returned to their positions, and the spells slowly dispersed, leaving him free again.

Humiliated and battered, Dong Fang Yue Chu slowly rose to his feet and staggered to the edge of the ring. After he stepped off the arena, he bent down and picked up the sack of rice before heading toward the exit. I watched him for a second and then proceeded to join him.

I didn't get very far.

No sooner than I had taken a step when a thunderous explosion rang throughout the coliseum. Dong Fang Yue Chu collapsed, the sack of rice spilling from his hand, after a spell from Zuo Teng struck him and exploded right in his face.