To the side, Li Lu was in a daze, rooted to the spot. Her gaze fell on the twitching body smashed down by Huang Xiaolong on the ground and she didn't react for a very long time.
Huang Xiaolong was actually so strong!
In the last five months, she had been practicing diligently and thought she might have closed some of the distance between herself and Huang Xiaolong. However, she didn't imagine the gap to reach such a degree!
At this point in time, Sun Zhang and Xiong Chu stopped infusing battle qi into Jiang Teng's body and got up while wiping away the sweat on their foreheads. Fortunately, they acted quickly; if Huang Xiaolong 'gave' Jiang Teng a dozen palms continuously like last time, without a doubt, Jiang Teng would truly be wasted and crippled!
The two let out bitter smiles.
At first, they thought the fight would come to a tie; but once again, things turned out like the last time!
Facing Huang Xiaolong, Jiang Teng lost in just one move!
And he lost so miserably!
Sun Zhang and Xiong Chu had complicated expressions as they faced Huang Xiaolong; the surprise this little guy gave them was a little too big, but all was well-- their hearts' tolerance was strong enough to take it.
"Er, Xiaolong, your actions towards this little guy is too heavy handed every time," Sun Zhang commented while smiling at Huang Xiaolong.
Looking back at Sun Zhang, Huang Xiaolong's expression stated 'I don't really care' and said, "If there's nothing else, I'm going back." He turned around and left directly after throwing out the sentence.
Sun Zhang and Xiong Chu's mouth opened and closed, wanting to say something to Huang Xiaolong; in the end, no words would come out and they could only watch Huang Xiaolong take Li Lu away with wide eyes.
After the two small figures disappeared, Sun Zhang and Xiong Chu exchanged a glance and shook their heads.
When Huang Xiaolong's shadow was gone from the Academy square, in a distant corner, Xiong Meiqi slowly walked out into the light with a complicated expression on her face as she looked in the direction Huang Xiaolong took as he left.
Just like Sun Zhang and Xiong Chu, Xiong Meiqi was at the Academy square early on and saw everything.
After leaving the Academy, Huang Xiaolong and Li Lu went to Tianxuan Mansion.
On the way, Li Lu finally recovered from her shock and started to chatter away with Huang Xiaolong, gossiping about the interesting events of the past five months in the Academy.
Looking at the cheerful 'chatterbox' Li Lu, he smiled. He liked to see the dimples on Li Lu's face when she smiles.
"Young Master, you have returned!" When Huang Xiaolong and Li Lu arrived at the Tianxuan Mansion, Fei Hou was going out when he saw Huang Xiaolong. Delighted, Fei Hou rushed up and greeted him.
Huang Xiaolong stepped up and patted Fei Hou's shoulder, affirming "Yes, I'm back! Let's first go inside and talk."
Coming into the main hall, the three people sat down.
After sitting down, Huang Xiaolong inquired about the progress of Tianxuan Mansion's armed forces and Fei Hou answered one by one. Fei Hou explained that he went to the slaves market a couple of times and purchased a few new slaves; so now, including Beastman Boli and the others, there was a total of sixty-eight slaves in the Tianxuan Mansion. After undergoing his training, all the slaves had acquired a certain level of foundation in the Luohan Fist supplied by Huang Xiaolong.
When Fei Hou brought these slaves back, each of them had some battle qi foundation in them, and after five months of his training, they could already use the Luohan Fist against enemies. The weakest one was on par with a Fifth Order warrior, and the strongest amongst them was Beastman Boli who could fight against a Sixth Order warrior.
Listening to Fei Hou's answers, Huang Xiaolong nodded with satisfaction at the speed of the progress.
At this time, Fei Hou hesitated a little before continuing, "Young Master, tomorrow is your Academy's class competition. I found out the strongest First Year this round is called Lu Kai. And this Lu Kai was already a peak late-Sixth Order last year and he have probably stepped into the Seventh Order by now!"
"Lu Kai?" Huang Xiaolong's brows creased into a furrow: Seventh Order?
Below the Tenth Order, there were two bottlenecks – one was the Fourth Order and the other was the Seventh Order. Once a person advanced to the Seventh Order, the exponential increase in strength was unimaginable, definitely not what a peak late-Sixth Order can rival.
If that Lu Kai really had broken through to the Seventh Order, tomorrow's First Year class competition will be somewhat troublesome.
"That's right ah, Xiaolong, I've often heard our teacher, Xiong Meiqi, mention him. Three years ago, he was a late-Sixth Order, and he has always taken the first place at our Academy First Year's competition for the past three years. He has never lost even once; also, he's our Luo Tong Kingdom's prince!" Li Lu added after Fei Hou.
"Oh, Luo Tong Kingdom's prince?" Huang Xiaolong was a little surprised at the information.
"Yes, Young Master!" Fei Hou said, "The Luo Tong Kingdom's King, Lu Zhe, is very attentive towards this son, and I also heard the King will attend tomorrow's Academy matches."
"King Lu Zhe will come to watch the competition." Again, Huang Xiaolong was surprised; it seemed that the Luo Tong Kingdom's ruler attached great importance to this son.
"Moreover, this Lu Kai has some relation to Young Master." Fei Hou continued to elaborate, "The bet between Young Master and Zhong Yuan five months ago, does Young Master remember? If Young Master takes the first place for the First Year's competition, the Principal will expel him from the Academy. Lu Kai is Zhong Wangfei's son!"
Zhong Wangfei's son!
This time, Huang Xiaolong was truly shocked.
Zhong Wangfei was Zhong Yuan's elder sister. This meant that Lu Kai was Zhong Yuan's nephew and Zhong Yuan was Lu Kai's Uncle.
Lu Kai, Huang Xiaolong repeated the name once in his heart.
Seventh Order huh? Looks like the First Year competition tomorrow will be a little more meaningful.
"Young Master, in fact, it doesn't matter even if you can't take the first spot in the First Year's competition. Young Master is still very young, only ten years old, whereas that Lu Kai is already nineteen!" Seeing Huang Xiaolong in deep thought, Fei Hou assumed Huang Xiaolong was worried about the competition tomorrow, so he spoke some words of comfort.
Sovereign's talent can be described as monstrous and was strong compared to others of the same age, but in Fei Hou's opinion, it was still too difficult for him to win against a Seventh Order warrior.
On hearing Fei Hou's words, Huang Xiaolong laughed lightly; waving his hand and changing the topic, he asked Fei Hou about his progress in the 'Liquid Thunder Arts.'
And Fei Hou answered truthfully.
"Oh right, I have something for you two." Some time later, Huang Xiaolong remembered something and took out ten pieces of cycad fruit.
"These are cycad fruit!" Staring wide-eyed at the cycad fruit in Huang Xiaolong's palm, Fei Hou exclaimed out loud in surprise. When Li Lu heard what Fei Hou said, her eyes too opened wide in surprise.
"Yes, these are cycad fruits." Huang Xiaolong smiled and said, "The little guy found it while we were training in the Silvermoon Forest."
At this moment, the little violet monkey (who was seated beside him) squeaked proudly, both tiny hands gesturing. He obviously was showing off in front of Fei Hou and Li Lu. The little violet monkey's cute antics made the three people in the hall burst out in laughter.
But, finding these cycad fruits was something that one can be proud of.
Huang Xiaolong divided the fruits and gave Fei Hou and Li Lu five each.
A short while later, Fei Hou and Li Lu left the main hall. Huang Xiaolong also left and went to his courtyard to practice the Asura Demon Claw.
Not long later, Marshal Haotian got the message that Sovereign was back from the Silvermoon Forest and quickly went over to Tianxuan Mansion from the Marshal Mansion. Marshal Haotian also mentioned Lu Kai to Huang Xiaolong with a worried tone.
It seems not only the Academy's teachers and students, even Fei Hou and Haotian, don't believe I can get the first place ah, Huang Xiaolong thought to himself inside.
Night slowly descended.
Moonlight shone brightly over the land.
Huang Xiaolong sat cross-legged on the cold jade bed as the twin dragon martial spirits greedily devoured the netherworld spiritual energy.
One night passed peacefully just like that.
Replaced with warm sunlight, the day of Cosmic Star Academy's annual event – the day of the class and year competition had finally arrived.
On the day of competition, it was sunny and Huang Xiaolong came out from his room and saw Fei Hou waiting for him respectfully in the yard.
When Huang Xiaolong, Fei Hou, Wang Ning, and the three Marshal Mansion's guards arrived at the Academy square, a sea of people already gathered on the Academy grounds.
Because today was the Academy's annual class and year competition, the Academy's authorities had specifically allowed each student to bring their families or servants to enter the Academy and watch the competition.
Of course, each student can only bring up to five people.
Coming onto the Academy grounds, Huang Xiaolong and his group of six headed straight to the Holy Hall.
The Academy's Holy Hall was a few times bigger than the front square; even if tens of thousands people were crammed inside, it doesn't feel crowded at all.
"That's Huang Xiaolong!"
"He is this year's new batch student, Huang Xiaolong? I heard Jiang Teng already broke through the Fifth Order but was nearly 'wasted' by him yesterday!"
When the crowd saw Huang Xiaolong stepping into the Holy Hall, a buzz erupted amongst the people around. Huang Xiaolong, although a new student was already famous throughout the Academy to the point even the older students and teachers all recognized him.
Ignoring the hush-voiced discussions around him, Huang Xiaolong came to a corner of the hall and stood with Fei Hou and the four guards.
"Xiaolong!" At this time, a pleasant and surprised voice cried out. Huang Xiaolong turned to look and saw a happy Li Lu running towards him. Huang Xiaolong smiled at Li Lu.
"I heard this time, not only the King is coming to watch the competition, Marshal Haotian is also coming!"
"Marshal Haotian is also coming? The rumor flying around is, that super-abnormal monster Huang Xiaolong is Marshal Haotian's illegitimate son, don't know if this is true or not?"
Once again, the crowd roared with this piece of news.
Listening to these people's words in his ear, Huang Xiaolong couldn't help but smile in bitterness.
Suddenly, Huang Xiaolong felt a cold, piercing stare on his body; turning around towards the source, Huang Xiaolong saw Zhong Yuan standing in a group of people.
In front of Zhong Yuan stood an imposing young man around eighteen to nineteen years old, encircled by a group of flattering students of both genders. From the looks of it, this young man should be the Prince of the Luo Tong Kingdom, Lu Kai. Also, he was the strongest First Year student according to everyone.
At this point, Lu Kai felt Huang Xiaolong's gaze and two set of eyes met midair.
"He is Huang Xiaolong?" Lu Kai's mouth opened and asked to no one in particular.
"Yes, he is that Huang Xiaolong!" Zhong Yuan stepped up and replied immediately.
Lu Kao nodded; his expression was the same the whole time, completely unperturbed.
As time flowed, the number of people gathering in the Holy Hall became more and more, and some time later, from outside the Holy Temple sounded a loud voice announcing, "The King, Marshal, and Principal have arrived!"
King Lu Zhe, Marshal Haotian, and Cosmic Star Academy's Principal, Sun Zhang, arrived together!
Instantly, Huang Xiaolong and everyone else in the hall turned around to look at the entrance. At the entrance, a middle-aged man wearing a light yellow dragon robe walked majestically and strode into the Holy Hall under the protection of a group of bodyguards. Without a doubt, that middle-aged man was the Luo Tong Kingdom's King, Lu Zhe, and half a step behind him was Marshal Haotian, and the Cosmic Star Academy Principal, Sun Zhang.
With King Lu Zhe's arrival, the crowd quickly saluted, and the crowd began to noisily chatter in the Holy Hall.
"Hehe, everyone rise, stand up!" King Lu Zhe stepped up to the specially prepared guest of honor main platform and sat on the main seat. Marshal Haotian and Principal Sun Zhang sat on each side next to the King.
After the three 'biggest' people were seated, the rest of the nobles followed suit and sat down.
Not long after everyone had taken their seats, Sun Zhang stood up and made a short speech about the competition and the rewards. At the mention of rewards, Sun Zhang raised his voice, "Apart from the usual rewards, the King is generous enough to add one million gold coins and a set of an early Earth grade cultivation technique for all first place winners of the Year category."
One million gold coins!
An early Earth rank cultivation technique!
The crowd broke out in an uproar, eyes hot with burning desire.
Even Huang Xiaolong was surprised. One million gold coins weren't some spare change, and it was even coupled with an early Earth rank cultivation technique. In the Luo Tong Kingdom, this was not something that could be bought even with gold coins.
Huang Xiaolong's eyes squinted. If he took the First Year's first place, in addition to the rewards, there was still the Earth rank battle skill that Sun Zhang promised him; then, would he be getting one Earth rank cultivation technique and one battle skill?
An Earth rank cultivation technique and battle skill were useless to him. But, it can be passed to his parents and his little brother and sister; nonetheless, learning an extra battle skill is an advantage.
"Then, let the competition begin!" Sun Zhang glanced at the crowd and finally declared.
After Sun Zhang finished his announcement, the hall fell into a brief moment of silence, and then the class competition begins.
Cosmic Star Academy has a total of three class years, so the competition was held in three different places.
However, only the winner of each class was eligible to contest in the year category competition. Thus, every class of each year needed to compete.
The First Years had the most number of classes, a total of fourteen of them. And Huang Xiaolong was in the last class, the fourteenth class.
In the class level competition, not all the class students will battle it out. Instead, the class teacher would nominate the strongest two people to compete, and the winner was considered as number one. Of course, if there was someone who disagrees with this, they could also challenge the winner.
In Class Fourteen of the First Years, undeniably, the two strongest people would be Huang Xiaolong and Jiang Teng. But, yesterday Jiang Teng was almost crippled by Huang Xiaolong; from the injuries, without ten days to half a month's rest, it would be hard for Jiang Teng to get out from the bed. So, left with no choice, Xiong Meiqi could only nominate Huang Xiaolong and another student called Chen Tong…
However, this student called Chen Tong just recently advanced into the Fourth Order. The moment Chen Tong walked up to the stage, he immediately threw in the towel. This result stunned everyone speechless, but no one found it surprising. Even Jiang Teng who possesses a grade eleven martial spirit and broke through to the Fifth Order was nearly wasted by Huang Xiaolong, not to mention a new Fourth Order Chen Tong?
Chen Tong's concession was considered a smart move on his part, knowing one's limitations.
With Chen Tong's action, no one else in Class Fourteen dared to challenge Huang Xiaolong. Thus, by default, he became the class winner without moving a finger.
When Xiong Meiqi announced Huang Xiaolong's victory, her face was full of complex emotions as she looked at Huang Xiaolong standing up on the stage.
While Class Fourteen's winner was already announced, the other thirteen classes were still in progress; therefore, when Xiong Meiqi made the announcement, everyone exclaimed in surprised gasps.
On the honored guests' platform, King Lu Zhe also noticed the situation around Class Fourteen's stage; watching Huang Xiaolong, King Lu Zhe said to Marshal Haotian, "He is Huang Xiaolong? A young hero in the making ah; Haotian, during our time, when we were ten or so, we were just a Fourth Order warrior right?"
Marshal Haotian laughed and said, "It is so, King."
Lu Zhe nodded and looked the other way where his son, Lu Kai, was. His eyes showed a spoiled love and he smiled, "I heard some say Huang Xiaolong had a bet with Zhong Yuan, wanting to get the first place in the year competition. Later, probably he will come against Kai'er."
Although Lu Zhe spoke in such a manner, his demeanor was relaxed; apparently, he does not believe Huang Xiaolong is his son's rival to fight for the first place. After the class competition, the contestants for the year competition would draw sticks to determine their next opponent. One after another, till the end, the year category winner will come out, and in Lu Zhe's opinion, Huang Xiaolong will be eliminated half way, having no opportunity to play against his son.
Noticing King Lu Zhe's smile, Marshal Haotian already saw through his thoughts; smiling, Marshal Haotian did not say anything.
A while later, all fourteen classes from the First Year category had been determined with their representative winner. Then, the next event would be the fight for the First Year champion.
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