Chapter 516 - 516: Twisting the truth?

They wanted to run out, but they knew they couldn't outrun Elder Mu even if they tried, and it would just prove their guilt. All they could do was stick to their lie and claim that they didn't do anything wrong. The only way they could escape was by pretending to be the victims and prove that Mu Lin was lying after he started blaming them in the future.

"What about him? Did he finally manage to achieve a breakthrough after a year and passed his bottleneck that had been troubling him?" Ruan Yi asked Mu Yun. "I somehow doubt that it would be the case."

Mu Yun looked towards Long Chen and sighed.

She shook her head. "Not yet."

"What I'm here to talk about is his accident and his current condition that is a matter of concern. What happened yesterday was that he was attacked by some beast when he was outside the Temple. He was injured when he was brought back. Even though he was saved, he had lost all his memories. He can't remember anything, including me or his name," Mu Yun told Ruan Yi with a sad look on her face.

"He lost his memories?" The three girls muttered as they started feeling elation in their hearts. They couldn't help but breathe in relief, knowing that they were saved.

"He doesn't remember anything? What about the cultivation stuff?" Ruan Yi inquired.

"Other than some basic things, he doesn't remember anything. I tried asking him. He doesn't remember any of his skills either," Mu Yun replied.

"No skills either? Why did you bring him here then? I'm not going to teach him anything from the start. I have more things to do," Ruan Yi let out. "Take him back."

"I don't want you to teach him from the start either. I want him to attend the classes and live life as he did before yesterday. Only when some resemblance of normalcy returns to his life can he remember everything. That's what Elder Gu declared. I don't care what you have to do, he's attending this class, and you're going to make it an everyday experience for the day. I'll be back in the evening," Mu Yun told Ruan Yi before she looked towards Long Chen.

"You used to sit in the front. Go sit there, love. Elder Ruan will begin the lecture soon," Mu Yun told Long Chen as she pointed towards an empty seat.

Long Chen walked towards the seat. He couldn't help but glance towards the three girls that had killed Mu Lin. His single glance was enough to make their heartbeat stop for an instant.

His glance was only for a brief second before it shifted to other people. He sat on the seat.

Mu Yun nodded her head and glanced back at Ruan Yi. 

"Be nice to him," She told her before she left.

Mu Yun walked out of the arena, sat on her Dark Soul Eagle, and flew away.

Ruan Yi looked towards Long Chen before she closed her eyes again. It seemed like she had started meditation again.

'I know now that the class hasn't started yet, so it can't be a meditation class. No other Disciple is doing it. Is it that she is waiting for the right time? Some people do have a habit of always being punctual. She might be one of those people,' Long Chen thought as he glanced at Ruan Yi.

Mi Lao was the person that had choked him, and there were only three people sitting between Mi Lao and Long Chen. Her poisonous gaze never left his back. Long Chen could see her looking at him through his Divine Sense, but he didn't mind.

"How could he be alive after what happened yesterday?" one of Mi Lao's friends whispered into her ears.

Mi Lao glared at her and gestured to her to be silent.

"You're going to get in trouble. Keep your mouth shut, and don't mention anything. Nothing happened yesterday!" She replied to her friend, who was more like her follower.

Five more minutes passed, and Ruan Yi finally opened her eyes. She opened her cherry blossom lips and started speaking.

"Alright. Time to begin the day. You guys were already told that today, it would be all about battling your opponent, and we'll be focusing on close combat battle mostly."

"When you are fighting an enemy, there often comes a time when you can't fight in long-range. Maybe because you have run out of Qi or you don't have any decent long-range Martial Skills like your opponent. There can be many reasons why you might need to close in on your enemy and engage in close combat."

"Most of the Cultivators ignore this reality or possibility, whatever you want to call it. This negligence can cause death and frequently result in a disaster. That's why I'm going to make you focus on the close combat,"  Ruan Yi said.

"We will continue with this later, but first, I need to see where you are all at. Let's start the day with some battle. All of you are going to go through one battle each, and the battles will be close-range battles. Also, you can't use any weapons in these battles," she added. 

"There are fifty of you here today, and you are all going to be coupled with another person. You can't use any skills either. It will be a hand to hand battle. That's all."

"You guys see the box beside me? There are fifty paper slips inside it, and each of the slips has a number. That number will decide your opponent, the person you'll be fighting.  Come here one by one and take out a slip and go back to your seats,"  Ruan Yi declared.

"We'll start from you," she said as she pointed towards the person on the left corner of the first row.

It was a boy who she pointed at. The boy was one of the best disciples amongst the fifty people present here. He looked like he was under the age of twenty years old. Despite his young age, he was already at the peak of the Earth Realm. He was called Ru Shen.

Ru Shen stood up and walked closer to the box. He inserted his hand inside the box and brought out a slip from the box and walked back.

The next person stood up and moved towards the front. He also brought a slip out of the box and went back.

One after another, people kept moving forward and went back. Soon, it was Long Chen's turn since he was sitting in a front row. He followed the others, stood up, and walked towards the box. He brought out a slip and looked at the number inside. It was a number 25. 

Long Chen walked back to his seat as well.

People continued going forth and kept taking their slips before they walked back. 

After a short time, everyone was finished. All of them had taken the slips.

"Alright. We will start now. The two people that had gotten number one, stand up and come ahead," Ruan Yi said.

The two people that had stood up were both girls. 

Both the girls came forth and stood before Ruan Yi.

"Both of you will be the first fight of the day. Even though no weapon is allowed, it won't be a child fight. The fight won't stop before one of you loses consciousness," Ruan Yi declared. "Go there and start fighting."

The girls nodded their heads and went to the side near an empty space of the arena. 

Long Chen was curious and began watching with interest since he was curious about how the disciples differentiated from the people of other places.  He wanted to see how strong they were compared to the average Cultivators with similar Cultivation.