Chapter 43: Martial Tournament Contest (4)
Following Mo Bei's overwhelming win in spite of Luo Ping's surprising mastery of the rare [White Boar Gu] beast phantom, the audience was silenced and excited at the same time.
In the forefront of the arena, the elders Chi Lian and Chi Zhong looked at each other. They were respectively in charge of the Gathering and Punishment Halls, and they were part of the Chi Family that had been growing at a rapid pace ever since the Mo Family's patriarch died twenty years ago. Ever since, there was imbalance between the Chi family and the Mo family, as the latter only possessed one elder: Mo Chen.
However, both Chi Lian and Chi Zhong knew that Mo Bei was different from others. He was an heir with incredible power and cunningness. Besides his talent in cultivation, he knew how to make the most out of opportunities in front of him, the liquor worm allowing him to reach the second realm before A-grade talent being one of them.
But Mo Bei's decisiveness made them afraid of the future. Unlike Mo Chen, who sought the preservation of the Mo family, Mo Bei was full of ambition. His actions in the academy ground all showcased his talent and strength, and he had already built a faction of some sort in the batch of students which was graduating, which was an excellent batch. Several C-grade talents had already been roped in his inner circle, and many D-grade talents owed him favours already.
Without a doubt, all of them would join the [Investigation Hall], supervised by the Mo family.
Although it was not a lot, there were more than a dozen loyal Gu Masters who would replenish the declining Mo Family, all of them possessing a considerable amount of respect for its future head.
Following Mo Bei's match, the academy elder announced the future opponents, mostly students with low aptitude and combat strength. Occasionally, one of Mo Bei's supporter would appear, and completely dominate the fight from beginning to the end. While it was not flashy compared to Mo Bei's match, it was still refreshing to see fifteen-years-old with so much power and mastery over the clan's most prized Gu, the moonlight Gu.
After some time, the academy elder announced: "Shi Feng, Fang Zheng"
Before letting Shi Feng on the stage, Mo Bei whispered in his subordinate's ears: "Shi Feng, I invested many primeval stones and much time into training you to this level. Believe me, you don't want to disappoint me"
For the first time in his life, Shi Feng felt danger.
He knew that Mo Bei possessed two extreme minds. Sometimes, he would laugh and hang out with them as a friend. But sometimes, he would induce fear in them. Killing cute piglets would be hard for any hunter their age, but Mo Bei would not even bat an eye doing so. As long as he could grow stronger from it, he would do it. The same went with training. He was the one who pushed himself the hardest, cultivating to the limits of overtraining without ever mumbling about the pain.
This was the kind of person his boss was.
Mo Bei was a genius driven by ambition. He was the reason why Shi Feng reached such high status in the class, and why he would have a bright future. Although the instructors underestimated him greatly, Shi Feng had utmost confidence in Mo Bei. He would elevate the Gu Yue Clan to never-seen-before heights.
This was a test.
A test to check whether he would be able to stand alongside him.
Shi Feng was trembling. It was fear. He knew that losing would forever categorize him in his boss' mind as a weakling, a mere tool. Shi Feng did not want any of that. He wanted to grow stronger, to be relied on by Mo Bei, to shoulder whatever pressure his boss was shouldering alone. He wanted to be there for his boss and friend, rather than a mere subordinate to be discarded.
Calming his trembling, Shi Feng breathed heavily before stepping in the arena, applauded by hundreds of Gu Masters. However, none of them entered his eyes. He was fully focused on beating his opponent, the one and only A-grade genius of the Gu Yue Clan: Fang Zheng.
Although he was a peak stage rank 1 Gu Master, Shi Feng possessed the upper hand in combat experience just from hanging around Mo Bei, who trained and sparred with him on a daily basis while Fang Zheng attended the academy.
Talent and Hardwork.
Theory and Experience.
This duel represented a lot of things.
To Shi Feng, it was test to see if he was worthy of standing alongside Mo Bei.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone