The silence before, had just been because the matter had not affected her. But that position had changed and Jun Wu Xie's stance and actions on the matter had evolved as well.
"Cough, what are we going to do with the body?" Qiao Chu asked, clearing his throat, lighting a pair of candles for the Yan Country's Emperor in his mind. He might not know much about many things, but he had heard from Fei Yan that Jun Wu Xie had been intricately involved in the regime change of the Qi Kingdom.
One Qi Kingdom, one Qing Yun Clan, and in addition to those, the Zephyr Academy. Jun Wu Xie's "outstanding achievements" had been nothing short of absolute brilliance and the Yan Country's Emperor could very well fall to become another one of Jun Wu Xie's "achievement portfolio".
Jun Wu Xie took out a white porcelain bottle and tossed it to Qiao Chu.
"Sprinkle it over the body."
Qiao Chu nodded and he went on to sprinkle the unidentified powder over Zhao Xun's body. In a blink, the corpse was quickly rotting under the white powdery substance bit by bit. Even the bones were not spared and within some short minutes, an entire dead body that was just lying on the ground had been turned into a bloody and watery puddle. Jun Wu Xie took the basin of clean water in the room and poured it over the ground, quickly rinsing off the light traces of blood that was left completely.
With the matter resolved and almost finished, Hua Yao got his hands on a suit of the Hua Wan Academy's uniform in Zhao Xun's room and the companions quietly left the place the same way they came.
Early the next morning, the Spirit Battle Tournament began their next round of matches and disciples from the various academies started out early to make their way to the respective arenas. The Hua Wan Academy still had three disciples who made it to this round of the competition and the three had initially wanted to wait for Zhao Xun before the made their way out but they did not see any sign of him even after waiting for a long while. They went to Zhao Xun's room to knock and there was no answer and they were just thinking it to be rather strange when they suddenly remembered that Zhao Xun had returned late last night and he had clearly demonstrated that he would not be taking part in today's competition. When they recalled who Zhao Xun's opponent was today, the youths then gave up and left.
They were thinking that Zhao Xun must have accepted the Crown Prince's offer and given up on the tournament.
That kind of a situation was no longer strange.
The number of people in the first battle district had reduced by quite a number and compared to the bustling and crowded scene from before, the atmosphere in the arena was now a lot more relaxed. The youths who had gone there early were warming up and preparing themselves for their upcoming matches. They had exchanged views and pointers they had picked up over the last few rounds and had gotten familiar with each other while they chatted among themselves.
The battle stage area was still a clamour of noise but when a tiny figure appeared before the doors of the first battle district, the entire arena immediately fell silent. All their eyes had unconsciously turned to look at the small and petite figure entering the arena.
"What is he here for?" Some youths said with disgust as they stared at Jun Xie walking into the arena. In the last few rounds since the beginning of the tournament, Jun Xie had not even battled once as his opponents had all forfeited in every round. That had caused the disciples who had battled tooth and nail in every one of their battles to get where they were at to be highly displeased.
"Is he just going through the motions? He knows he will not have to battle anyway."
"Isn't his opponent today Zhao Xun?"
"That's right. I was drinking with Zhao Xun last night and he had already told us that he won't be showing up today. Even by thinking through the toes, anyone would know that a certain someone must have gone crying to His Highness, the Crown Prince and asked the Crown Prince to deal with his upcoming opponent. What luck! People like us will not be able to swallow that kind of fortune." Several youths said, talking loudly in scorn. There were both people who envied Jun Xie and there were those who held him in contempt.
And within the crowd there, Qu Ling Yue's face was creased up in a frown, looking worriedly at the figure of Jun Xie who was slowly walking into the arena.