Chapter 151 The Battle At Victory Dojo
The victory dojo in Central Province Academy was a huge venue that could hold 8,000 people. It had been standing for a few hundred years.
Even though it had gone through countless times of renovation, the appearance of its exterior still looked archaic and damaged and was incompatible with this era. However, everyone who saw it didn’t show any sense of despise, instead, they couldn’t verbalize the feelings of poetic saga and vicissitudes that they saw.
It wasn’t the first time that Zhou Xu had been to this place; hence, he didn’t feel any freshness. “Who do you think will win the battle later on?”
“Teacher Sun!”
Qi Shengjia didn’t have any hesitation and gave his answer immediately.
“Gao Ben isn’t a pushover, I heard that he has a unique body-refinement art that can stimulate his body’s potential. It seems to be very formidable.”
Wang Hao broke the news.
“Really?”
Zhou Xu was stunned.
“Of course it’s real. It’s said that his students have all broken through 1 cultivation level. Currently, their loftiness is at its peak and they’re only waiting to trash Teacher Sun’s students. They are counting on this battle to make themselves famous.”
Wang Hao’s fellow villager was the personal disciple of Gao Ben; hence, he knew about this insider news.
“Who cares. Anyway, Teacher Sun will definitely be winning.”
As a crazy fan of Sun Mo, Qi Shengjia believed in him unconditionally.
The three of them had come early, but almost half of the seats had been occupied.
“Let’s sit there?”
Wang Hao saw that there were 6 pretty girls sitting near the east block; hence, he immediately moved over.
“There are quite a lot of teachers!”
Zhou Xu surveyed the arena from his seat. The spectator stand on the north side was dedicated for teachers so that students and teachers wouldn’t sit together. This way, the students wouldn’t be able to ask questions and disrupt the audience from enjoying the battle.
Qi Shengjia wasn’t concerned about that. He stared at the huge arena below and had feelings of unreconciliation in his heart. (When will I be able to stand here and battle against a genius?)
“A battle between the junior-grade students, what is there to watch?”
Ruan Yun complained. Had she not been dragged by Cai Tan, she would never have come to watch such a battle. “They are all miscellaneous students of body-refinement realms. No matter how well they perform, they are still pecking against the same type of chickens!”
“Just treat it as accompanying me, ok?”
Cai Tan consoled her with a warm tone. He had come here to watch Sun Mo.
“Alright!”
Ruan Yun seemed to have a lot on her mind.
“Teacher Gu, come sit here!”
“Teacher Gu, good morning!”
“Teacher Gu, how have you been?”
Seeing that Gu Xiuxun had come, a bunch of male teachers immediately stood up and greeted her from far. They even invited her to sit together.
Gu Xiuxun replied every single one of them to not make them feel neglected. Then, she walked directly toward Jin Mujie and said her greeting.
“Teacher Jin, is Headmaster An not coming?”
Gu Xiuxun made use of An Xinhui as a topic to strike up a conversation with Jun Mujie.
“She’ll be here soon.”
Jin Mujie wasn’t interested in conversing. Rather, she was holding a booklet in her hands and drawing various types of bone patterns with a charcoal pen.
Gu Xiuxun conveniently sat next to her and she sharply discovered that on Jin Mujie’s booklet, there were the words ‘Sun Mo’ on it.
“Jin Mujie is unlikely to let her mind wander. She must be thinking of Sun Mo and had written his name down subconsciously?”
Gu Xiuxun was astonished. It seemed like the two of them already had in-depth interaction before and were getting along pleasantly. (Tsk, it seems like Sun Mo has managed to latch onto this woman?)
At the resting room in victory dojo.
Bang!
Lu Zhiruo pushed open the door and ran in while gasping for breath.
“There......there are so many people!”
Lu Zhiruo was so nervous her voice was trembling. In the 8,000 pax venue, one-third of the seats had already been filled up.
One must know that typically, there would only be so many audiences during the battle of the top 10 students.
“They must be here to watch teacher, right?”
Tantai Yutang chuckled. “Teacher, you must not disappoint them later!”
“Huh? don’t you intend to go on stage later?”
Li Ziqi frowned.
“Ahem, just look at me, what do you think I can do?”
Tantai Yutang took a handkerchief and covered his mouth.
Ying Baiwu saw some dark-red color appear on the handkerchief. That was the blood he coughed up.
“Moreover, I make a living using my brains. For matters like fighting, that’s not my expertise.”
Tantai Yutang looked toward Sun Mo.
“Then what should we do now?” Lu Zhiruo was feeling worried. “Jiang Leng’s cultivation level is too high so he can’t go on stage. If we let Xuanyuan Po go, that will make us a bully!”
“Teacher, in any case, I will not battle those low-level miscellaneous people.”
Xuanyuan Po was hugging his spear sack and sitting cross-legged at the side, meditating. Hearing the papaya girl’s words, he spoke while facing Sun Mo. That was his life’s creed: he would never fight against low-grade students, never kill the weaker.
“That’s enough, could it be that we’re going to let Baiwu go up?”
Li Ziqi felt depressed. These 2 disciples were really hard to deal with.
“I’ll go!”
Sun Mo hadn’t agreed, but Ying Baiwu was nodding very seriously. No matter if it was for herself, or for the gratitude she had toward her teacher for helping her escape her plight, she must fight this battle. “That’s impossible, you didn’t even receive any coaching from any teacher before. All you’ve learned are low-level cultivation arts that you’ve secretly seen from others. If you go up, you’ll be seeking death!”
Li Ziqi felt that as the eldest martial sister, she had the obligation to take care of Ying Baiwu.
To speak the truth, after hearing the cultivation process of Ying Baiwu, Li Ziqi felt very shocked. This girl had relied on watching people secretly to learn these incomplete cultivation arts and had even stepped into the second level of the body-refinement realm. If she had been coached by a great teacher, she would’ve been soaring!
That was right, Ying Baiwu’s father was a gambling addict and didn’t work. Her mother was down with a serious illness and couldn’t do manual labor. Even when she did embroidery work, once the hours were too long, she would be so tired that her nose would bleed. Hence, the entire family’s responsibility had landed on Ying Baiwu.
It could be said that in the past 2 years, Ying Baiwu had been supporting the whole family. The price she had to pay was waking up early and going home late as she had to work incessantly.
Under such burdensome pressure, Ying Baiwu didn’t have much time to cultivate. However, she still managed to step into the second level of the body-refinement realm. Just by thinking of this, one would know how outstanding her aptitude was.
“Yeah, you don’t have any battle experience.”
Lu Zhiruo gave her advice as well.
“I have. Those kids who bullied me, they were always beaten until they fled off like a rat.”
Ying Baiwu looked toward Sun Mo.
“Tantai, you really can’t go up onto the arena?”
Sun Mo inquired.
“If you insist, then I can try.”
Tantai Yutang smiled. He had intentionally rejected to let Sun Mo beg him. Through this, Tantai Yutang could regain the confidence that he had lost previously.
Of course, Tantai Yutang would still have to go to the arena eventually. Fighting against Sun Mo was just internal conflict, but fighting against Gao Ben’s student was for the group’s glory. After all, Tantai Yutang had acknowledged him as his master. He couldn’t bear to see the team that he was in face defeat.
“Oh, since you can’t, then I will not force you!”
Sun Mo looked toward the 3 female students. “Have you all prepared for the battle?” “Ugh!”
Seeing how Sun Mo didn’t care about him, Tantai Yutang was stunned. (What are you even thinking of? Are you really going to let the 3 girls go up?)
(You’re such a cruel teacher! You better come and beg me now. Even though I look like a sickly person, not an expert at fighting and depend on my brains for a living, if I go and battle for 3 rounds, I will still win.)
The 3 girls all nodded with a serious expression.
“Since you have chosen to become cultivators, then you will have to experience battles sooner or later. Today’s battle arena is magnificent with many audiences, and your opponents are not inferior as well. As the first battling experience of your lives, it will be very memorable.”
Sun Mo smiled.
“If we lose, then we’ll be left with painful memories.”
Tantai Yutang interrupted.
“Can you shut up?”
Ying Baiwu frowned and scolded back the moment she opened her mouth. She had always been strong-headed and unwilling to concede defeat. Hence, when she heard Tantai Yutang’s discouraging words, she was very angry. “Err!”
Tantai Yutang didn’t expect Ying Baiwu would call him out for this, so he smiled insincerely. “In any case, I’m still your senior martial brother, ain’t I? Can’t you give me some form of respect?”
“Are you a foolish and naive kid? Respect must be earned from capabilities and not from a title. Moreover, to say such words before the start of a huge battle, I don’t see any sense of camaraderie from you, ‘senior martial brother’.”
Ying Baiwu scolded angrily; her mouth showed no form of mercy.
Tantai Yutang’s face became as black as the base of a pot. However, she hadn’t said anything wrong. If it were on the battlefield and someone were to say such words prior to a war, that person would have been beheaded.
“Alright, don’t think of other things after this, relax!”
Sun Mo started to massage the 3 girls as a warm-up session before battling.
Seeing this scene, Xuanyuan Po was a little surprised as well. (You really plan to let these 3 girls go up the arena, huh?)
Jiang Leng frowned and wanted to advise otherwise, but he didn’t know how to say it. Hence, he turned his head and gave Tantai Yutang a stare.
Tantai Yutang pouted and was feeling indignant. (Let’s see how you guys are going to win?)
A Li Ziqi with o athletic ability, a seemingly stupid and silly papaya girl, and a Ying Baiwu who hadn’t even gone to a private school before and had been going on unorthodox paths. Could they win with such a lineup? That must be a joke!
The atmosphere in the resting room was very relaxed. Sun Mo kept saying various interesting topics to diverge the 3 girls’ moods so that they wouldn’t be too nervous.
Dong! Dong! Dong! The victory bell that was fixed up in the victory dojo sounded. This was a notification for both teams to enter the arena.
Swish!
The 3 girls’ eyes immediately looked at Sun Mo.
“Let’s go, time to get your first victory!” Sun Mo extended his hand and rubbed the girls’ heads one after another. “Go! Let the thousands of audiences out there remember your heroic posture in your victory moments.”
Sun Mo led his team and walked out of the aisle. The sun suddenly became stronger and the tremendous noise flowed into their ears subsequently
Li Ziqi and the rest gazed across the spectator stand and couldn’t help but become nervous. Because all they saw were people. There seemed to be at least 3,000 to 4,000 people here.
“Ahhhh!”
Lu Zhiruo grabbed onto Sun Mo’s sleeves, feeling a little afraid to be watched by so many people.
The landform here was just like the Colosseum in ancient Rome, being surrounded by huge walls made of stone. The students who sat on the spectator stand could look downward and enjoy the battles.
In the center of the victory dojo, there was a square-shaped arena as big as half a football field and around 5 meters tall. At this moment, Lian Zheng, who was the referee, had already stood on the arena.
“Teachers from both sides, as well as students participating in the battle, please come on stage.”