Chapter 258: All Yours
Jill and Tracy stood in the center of the field and attracted every eye in the auditorium.
Murmurs could be heard from the male disciples. Both Jill and Tracy were as beautiful as faeries, but efficient and deadly, which was why all eyes were on them in this match.
“Who do you think will win?”
“Maybe Tracy. Anyway, she's a personal disciple, and she's older.”
“Huh! Who cares? I hope they will go toe to toe in the fight. They had better really get savage and tear their clothes when they fight! I'd love to see one of these chicks half naked!”
The males got excited and made crude comments when they talked about women, not even bothering to lower their voices.
Those dreadful comments carried themselves into the ears of the two girls. Jill only replied with a tilt of her head and an angry glare, but Tracy, who had a much worse temper, wouldn't let it go that easily.
Although most disciples from the Thirty Three Peaks didn't know Tracy very well, she was well-known among the personal disciples for her cruel techniques—and a more violent temper than a man. If someone treated her as the inexperienced and innocent girl she appeared to be, he would definitely regret it.
Tracy slowly walked to the edge of the field and jumped off the stage.
“Wait, why did she leave the stage? Where's she going?”
“Isn't a fighter forbidden to leave the field before the competition is done? Is she surrendering?”
“Oh garbage! I think you're in trouble, Bass. She's flaunting all the rules, and headed this way. We were too loud!”
They all watched as Tracy walked towards the crowd from Drizzle Peak. The one who made the worst comment was Bass Qin, an inner disciple who ranked sixth in the Drizzle Peak.
Tracy stopped in front of him, giving him an icy cold gaze. She stared at him for several seconds and suddenly smiled mirthlessly. Her beautiful silhouette added to the temptation in her bright grin. She asked, “You want to see my body?”
Though Bass had a big mouth, he wasn't an idiot. Tracy was smiling at him like an old friend, but he was well aware she was furious inside.
Bass was among the worst-behaved ones in the All Peaks Competition. He had lost seven fights while winning only one, and he had been knocked out quickly, well before the group games were done that day. He liked to talk a lot, but now he was scared silent. Tracy meant business.
He totally understood that he was courting death if he admitted it, so he shook his head vehemently and stammered, “N-no. You don't understand. Th-that wasn't me—”
But Tracy turned a deaf ear to his words and continued with the same smile. “Well, it's not impossible...”
“What?” All the disciples around them couldn't believe their ears. Was she serious?
“All you need to do is to gouge your eyes out afterward,” Tracy added.
When they heard her words, the crowd felt their hearts sink with fear. They knew that she wasn't kidding.
“N-no, please...” Bass kept shaking his head.
“No?” Tracy laughed and said, “As you wish. You don't have to gouge your eyes out. You said those words with your mouth, anyway, so I want your tongue instead.”
Bass paled at her words. He looked at Master Wen, trying to get him to say something to stop this.
Master Wen gave a grimace of annoyance. He resented Bass because this troublesome disciple not only shamed the Drizzle Peak with his poor performance, but also irritated Tracy with his loose lips. Nonetheless, he felt that it was excessive to cut Bass's tongue out. 'What a cruel girl!' he thought to himself.
As the Master in charge of the disciples from Drizzle Peak, he wanted to save face and stop Tracy from hurting his disciple. He stepped forward and said, “Tracy, this is all his fault. He shouldn't have said anything like that. I will punish him according to our rules in Drizzle Peak. Bass, apologize now!”
Bass turned to Tracy and apologized in a grovelling tone, “Tracy, I shouldn't have said those offensive words. Please forgive me.”
However, Tracy ignored his apology and insisted stubbornly, “Choose: Your eyes, or your tongue.”
“Er, I...” Bass was desperate. Even Master Wen wasn't able to save him.
Master Wen also felt it was really a knotty issue. He looked around and hoped others might step in. She'd left the field, so it was the duty of the referee and the elders to deal with things like this.
But the referee looked away, showing no intention of helping at all. As for the two elders who were supposed to be there, they were nowhere to be found. No one wanted to get involved.
Master Wen was in a dilemma. Although it was Bass's fault, Master Wen couldn't allow Tracy to do anything extreme to his charge. Why couldn't she just accept his apology?
Finally, Master Wen cast his eyes towards Zen.
Zen had just stayed in his seat silently since Tracy left the field. He had no intention of attracting her ire.
He believed Bass deserved to be punished.
In fact, he didn't think it was technically wrong to do what Bass did. If a warrior managed to irritate his enemies they might make a mistake during the fight. It was just good strategy.
But, this loser should have known better than to open his mouth. If it was Rocher or any other personal disciple, Tracy might have decided it wasn't worth the trouble. But Bass was weak, and Tracy would probably trounce him in a fair fight. He deserved to be punished.
Even though Bass was from the same peak as Zen, Zen didn't feel sorry for him at all.
He had taught Mack a good lesson for Yehudi's sake because Yehudi had provided him with information about the All Peaks Competition.
If someone did Zen a favor, he'd always return the favor with interest. This was one of his principles.
As for Bass, Zen didn't like his featherbrained behavior. He believed that Bass deserved everything he got, even if Tracy really gouged his eyes out.
Despite his dislike for Bass, when Zen met Master Wen's pleading eyes, he eventually sighed in resignation and decided to step up. After all, he knew that thousands of other disciples in the Drizzle Peak were still watching them through the Picture Slab, and that they would feel ashamed if they saw their fellow disciple being bullied by others.
He walked up to Tracy and said with a smile, “He's apologized. Just let it go. If you want, I can have him continue to say he's sorry til you've calmed down.”
In Tracy's eyes, the disciples from the Drizzle Peak were a waste of space, and even Master Wen couldn't earn her respect. However, Zen was an exception.
Zen was a dark horse in the All Peaks Competition. Since the beginning of the competition, Rocher was the only one who earned the same kind of attention.
Rocher had long been a celebrity in the Cloud Sect. He was the youngest and strongest sword practitioner in Skytop Peak. On the other hand, Zen was a nobody before the All Peaks Competition. Out of the blue, he attended the event as a member of the Drizzle Peak and unexpectedly defeated many powerful rivals—including Vale.
But to call Rocher a dark horse would mean that Zen was a miracle worker.
“Sorry?” Tracy replied with a cold sneer, “Sorry is useless. If everyone said they were sorry, then no one would fight, and all our practice would be wasted. Is that what you want, Zen?”
Zen nodded, “You're right. Apologies are useless. If Bass was stronger than you, he wouldn't apologize. But I think it's excessive to remove his eyes or tongue just because he's weaker.”
“Excessive? Since he's weaker, it doesn't matter what I want to do to him,” Tracy said arrogantly.
“So if I beat you, can I do what I want with you? Or doesn't it work that way?” Zen challenged.
Upon hearing his words, the crowd around them fell into silence.
They had already seen how arrogant Tracy was, but Zen was worse. Everyone was shocked by his bold statement.
While his words were open to interpretation, the expression on his face said everything people needed to know. His meaning was sexual.
Tracy focused her gaze at Zen's face for a while before replying with a cold smile, “Fine. If you beat me, I'm all yours. As long as you promise to do the same for me if you lose!”
“Of course. So let Bass off the hook,” Zen said flatly.
He hadn't intended to help Bass, but now that he got involved, he decided to clear up this mess.
Zen understood that he would have to fight Tracy in the round-robin match sooner or later. So he figured he'd make this bet with her now.
Still, he felt somewhat worried about that.
If he could beat her, fine. He wasn't really interested in anything else, and would probably just let her go. He didn't want to imagine how this wilful girl would torture him if he lost to her.
While Zen was distracted in his trance, Tracy suddenly shook her head and said, “Let him off the hook? I'm still pissed!” In just the blink of an eye, a gray light appeared in her hand and sped towards Bass.
Zen didn't expect that she would launch an attack so suddenly. But she was too close to Bass to stop her. All he could do was to cry out, “Tracy, no!”
Too late! The gray light flew towards Bass's chest and pierced his body, jutting out from his back.
Bass's eyes stared wide open with fears. He placed his hand on his chest and covered the hole there. The injury was on his left chest. If his heart was wounded, he would lose his life very quickly.
Zen checked the injury with his soul power and regained his composure. She hadn't seriously wounded the idiot. She selected a perfect angle that would come quite close to his heart, but didn't hit anything vital. The injury looked serious, but it was more for show. It might not even leave a scar.
He bled, to be sure. Not only that, he was in great pain.
So this was her punishment for Bass's offense.
After giving vent to her fury, Tracy turned on her heel and returned to the field, a smile on her face.