Inside the secret dimension.
Qi Shaorong took out a bead and an image was projected out from it. The projection from the bead was an image of Zhuang Hao.
As a result of Qi Shaorong's move, the audience outside the secret dimension was stirred up again.
"That's an apparition bead! Hu Feng, what did you do?"
Hu Feng watched Qi Shaorong's movements and couldn't help thinking of the bracelet that Qi Shaorong gave to Zhuang Hao before entering the dimension. He thought at the time that the bracelet Qi Shaorong gave to Zhuang Hao might have a deep meaning behind it, but he didn't expect that there was actually a method of monitoring inside the bracelet. He just didn't know if there could there be any other uses for the bracelet? Qi Shaorong, this guy really is… A genius!
"Know yourself and your enemy, and you will be victorious [1]! Zhuang Hao is really too unsuspecting. He was given a nice bracelet by someone else and just went ahead and wore it. Lu Ming, how do you usually teach your students! Such a good genius was taught into a fool by you!"
"It's clearly a problem with your student, using such tricks!"
"Soldiers don't shy away from using deceit [2], don't you understand!"
"Hu Feng, I see that the older you are, the more shameless you become."
"Lu Ming, I see you're still not willing to admit that you're going to lose. Just look at the students from your Shenghuang University, you had such a good hand of cards that was played to ruins by you!"
Hu Feng and Lu Ming quarreled fiercely. Since the beginning of the Hundred Schools Battle, the dispute between Hu Feng and Lu Ming has never stopped. Every day, these two guys have to argue a for a few rounds. Tianlan College, which was originally supposed to be knocked out really easily, suddenly emerged as a serious contender, and the original assumed champion already had six participants who were kicked out.
Inside the secret dimension, Qi Shaorong looked at the image of Zhuang Hao and narrowed his eyes.
"This beast master is really hard to deal with. Judging from the information shown in the image, the colourful stones that he alone has collected is enough to help Shenghuang University take first place. Without taking him out, my one million gold coins will go to waste! Thinking about it really distresses my heart." Qi Shaorong said coldly.
Yi Fan squinted his eyes and said, "Why did you have to bet one million that Tianlan College would take first place? If you had only bet for the top five, then you wouldn't have to worry."
"What do you know? Even if we win in the top five, we wouldn't make much money. If we don't succeed, then we can only pay the price [3]." Qi Shaorong's eyes flashed with madness.
Yi Fan smiled and said, "Qi Shaorong, you're really brave. How admirable."
"If you can make more money, why should you settle for less? Sooner or later, Zhuang Hao and I would have to encounter each other anyway. Who does he think he is, breaking off our marriage agreement and not even showing up in person for it? How arrogant. If I don't go teach him a lesson [4], he'd really think that I'm easy to bully." Qi Shaorong said darkly.
Yi Fan: "…"
Yi Fan looked at the phantom bead and said: "Zhuang Hao is difficult to deal with, and there are so many tamed monster beasts around him."
"He seems to be going towards the area of the level eight monster beast. Now, if he and the level eight beast both end up injuring each other in a fight, then maybe I'll have a chance." Qi Shaorong said.
"You're not thinking of heading to the level-eight area, are you?" Yi Fan looked at Qi Shaorong.
Qi Shaorong nodded and said: "I'm going."
"I'll go with you?" Yi Fan asked.
Qi Shaorong shook his head and said, "No need, this is my business, and what's more, I still have a backup plan. It's okay, you go do your own things, there should still be something that you wanted to do…"
Yi Fan squinted his eyes and said: "Alright, take care."
Yi Fan lowered his head. He did have something to do. There were still four people from Shenghuang University left in the competition, including Yi Huo and Yi Bing. It's time to get rid of one of Shenghuang's people anyway, and those two guys are really annoying.
Qi Shaorong and Yi Fan separated again. Outside the secret dimension, Hu Feng watched the interaction between Qian Mian and Qi Shaorong, and had a strange feeling in his heart. Qian Mian and Qi Shaorong are old news. The relationship between the two doesn't seem like a simple friendship, but more like a master-slave relationship.
Qi Shaokang looked at Yi Fan's figure in the dimension and said, "Chen Yuan, who's the person wearing your face? In the secret dimension, it was he who knocked me out."
Chen Yuan shook his head and said: "I don't know."
Qi Shaokang frowned and said: "Don't know? How do you not know? Why didn't he pick someone else and instead chose to impersonate you?!"
Chen Yuan ground his teeth. This question, he really wanted to know too! Lord knows, he has nothing to do with that guy!
"I didn't know that Qi Shaorong had prepared a face mask imitating me or the others. It's just my bad luck." Chen Yuan said dully.
Qi Shaokang said with some suspicion: "Is it?" His luck really was bad.
"The guy who knocked you out is related to your Fourth Brother! If you want to know who plotted against you, you can ask Qi Shaorong!" Chen Yuan said.
Qi Shaokang glanced out Chen Yuan and coldly spit out the words "Shut up."
Chen Yuan: "…"
Chen Yuan closed his eyes. Qi Shaorong was actually retaliating against him because of the issue with breaking off the marriage! That guy really hated him thoroughly. What a close minded person. Close minded people aren't scary, it's the people who can think deeply and also have strength who are terrible.
Zhuang Qian clenched his fists and looked at Chen Yuan and Qi Shaokang, saying: "Brother Chen, Second Young Master Qi, stop bickering. Qi Shaorong went to find trouble with my brother."
Chen Yuan looked at Zhuang Qian and said: "Relax, your brother is powerful. Qi Shaorong isn't his opponent. Let's see just who's going to teach who a lesson."
Lu Ming looked at Zhuang Hao inside the secret dimension and clenched his fists.
Inside the dimension, Zhuang Hao controlled several beasts and was fighting with a level eight beast.
"Principal, Qi Shaorong went to look for Zhuang Hao," said an instructor beside Lu Ming.
"I saw. Hu Feng that bastard." Lu Ming gritted his teeth.
"If Zhuang Hao and the monster beast are both injured, then Zhuang Hao will be in danger." The instructor who was standing beside Lu Ming was full of worries.
Lu Ming clenched his fists. Qi Shaorong installed surveillance on Zhuang Hao. He could easily find the right time to attack, and previously, Qi Shaorong and that guy who was pretending to be Chen Yuan said that he still had a backup plan. Just what is it?!
"Principal, do you think Zhuang Hao will really be knocked down by Qi Shaorong?" The instructor by Lu Ming asked worriedly.
Lu Ming turned his head, looked at the person, and hatefully said: "Shut up, stop talking already. We all know that you have a mouth [5]."
Hu Feng glanced in the direction of Lu Ming, smiled, and said: "Everyone all said that Lu Ming has grace, that before Mount Tai [6] collapses he won't change his gentlemanly appearance. What a joke. This time, Lu Ming has really made a fool of himself. In the future, let's see if he'll still dare to keep up with that farce [7]."
Li Hong: "…"
"Zhuang Hao is really courageous! He went to look for a level eight beast!" Li Hong admired.
Zhuang Hao's martial arts strength is already far superior to an ordinary level seven cultivator. He also has a monster beast taming ability, plus a few monster beasts by his side, and can even stand his ground in a fight against a level eight beast.
"Principal, Zhuang Hao, that guy is really amazing!" Li Hong said.
Hu Feng nodded, and said: "Yes. However, no matter how strong he is, once he and the level eight beast have used up their energy, they wouldn't be Qi Shaorong's opponents." When Zhuang Hao is weaker, he really shouldn't be Qi Shaorong's opponent. Hu Feng sighed and couldn't help but feel a little out of breath.
Li Hong clenched his fists and said, "Even though there might be some issues, but as long as we can win, then whatever."
Li Hong clenched his fists, appearing completely confident in Qi Shaorong.
Hu Feng nodded, saying: "Of course?" As long as he wins, then that's good.
In the secret dimension, Zhuang Hao directed several monster beasts to fight with the level eight dragon for a long time. Many of the beasts that Zhuang Hao had brought with him had already died, and the dragon beast that Zhuang Hao was fighting with also carried many wounds on its body. They were both running out of strength [8].
Zhuang Qian looked at Zhuang Hao and couldn't help feeling nervous, saying: "Brother doesn't seem to be in a good state!"
"I'm not late, am I?" Zhuang Renquan approached Zhuang Qian and asked.
Zhuang Qian looked at Zhuang Renquan with a little surprise. "Third Uncle, why are you here?"
"I heard that your elder brother may be out of luck, so I came here to see."
Zhuang Qian: "…"
Zhuang Renquan hugged both his arms, looked at the light screen, and said: "Your brother's life growing up until now has gone smoothly. It is rare to see him run out of luck. Originally I had thought that there wouldn't be much to see in this competition, but now it seems to be very interesting."
Zhuang Qian frowned, and said, "Third Uncle, do you really want to see big brother meet misfortune?"
Zhuang Renquan smiled and said, "Of course not."
Zhuang Qian: "…"
Zhuang Renquan looked at Qi Shaorong's figure in the light screen, squinted his eyes, and said: "To be fair, Qi Shaorong is pretty good-looking! He's really not much worse than your brother, the Ghost Doctor's vision is really good!"
Zhuang Qian: "…" Third Uncle, is it really okay for you to say that?
"Zhuang Hao, how embarrassing." Qi Shaorong stepped into the scene of the conflict.
The arrival of Qi Shaorong made the already tense atmosphere between the dragon beast and Zhuang Hao even more tense.
Qi Shaorong moved his magic staff and brought out a level seven dark magic prison cage, trapping the dragon.
With a wave of Qi Shaorong's staff, a "shadow vine" fell onto the dragon's body, and countless black vines bound the dragon firmly.
The dragon beast growled at Qi Shaorong, but the weak roar of the dragon only made it sound like it was bluffing.
A bundle of magic scrolls appeared in Qi Shaorong's hands. Qi Shaorong smashed the bundle of scrolls at the level eight dragon, causing the dragon to faint.
To be on the safe side, Qi Shaorong once again took out three more bundles of magic scrolls and continuously threw them at the dragon.
Zhuang Hao didn't move and watched with his eyes wide open as Qi Shaorong took the crystal nucleus from the head of the dragon.
"Unexpectedly, Qi Shaorong, you're actually a level seven dark mage. That's really amazing!" Zhuang Hao squinted his eyes and said.
"You're wrong, I'm only a level six mage. Compared to you, Young Master Zhuang, I'm a little worse." Qi Shaorong took off his clothes, revealing the crystal armor that he was wearing underneath.
"Good armor," Zhuang Hao praised.
Qi Shaorong smiled and said: "It cost more than 200 000 gold coins. It's good to have money, isn't it?"
Zhuang Hao smiled and said: "Of course!"
Footnotes:
*Foes (from the chapter title): So Google Translate tells me that the original Chinese words doesn't only mean "foe/enemy", but it can also mean "sweetheart" or "one's destined love"… Which is pretty fitting, actually…
Know yourself and your enemy, and you will be victorious: Pretty much the literal meaning. If you can understand thoroughly the situation of the enemy and yourself, then you will be invincible in battle. Hu Feng is either referring to Qi Shaorong being really smart, Zhuang Hao being really stupid, or both.
Soldiers don't shy away from using deceit: Means that when soldiers fight, they don't exclude the use of tricky or deceptive strategies or methods to defeat the enemy.
If we don't succeed, then we can only pay the price: Um, so I spent so long trying to figure out what the original sentence meant. It translates to "if we don't succeed, then we will be benevolent", so I searched up the definition, and it was talking about Confucianism or something but it was still really confusing. I wasn't sure what it meant so I just translated what I thought it meant.
Teach him a lesson: Original was "show him some colour to see."
We all know that you have a mouth: Originally said "no one thinks that you're mute", meaning that the person who was talking was talking too way much, like he was trying to prove to people that he wasn��t "mute".
Mount Tai: A very famous mountain in China, often mentioned in literature. Highly unlikely that it will collapse anytime soon, so Hu Feng is saying that Lu Ming was never going to show his true colours and will always appear to be a good person.
Keep up with that farce: Hu Feng said "Let's see if he'll still dare to be a big-tailed wolf." A big-tailed wolf isn't a wolf with a big tail, it refers to a wolf that's trying to hide but isn't very good at pretending, so the tail is exposed, causing the tail to appear big. It's a term usually used to ridicule people who pretend to be serious, cool, authoritative, competent, etc.
Running out of strength: "At the end of the crossbow." Refers to when the arrow sent by a crossbow has reached the farthest range it can achieve and all the metaphorical power has been exhausted.