Chapter 80 - The Battle To Establish Authority

Li Chunyang squinted at Meng Wu as he smiled and said, “Boy, she’s a good girl, with those good hips of her. She should have no trouble bearing children for you.”

“Watch your mouth!” Yunxiao glared at him.

“Ah?” The grandfather pretended to have understood something. “So, another girl has taken your heart? Well, you can still take this one as your concubine. Now tell me, who’s that girl? When are you going to bring her to me?”

Yunxiao showed him a middle finger and snapped, “Stop it!”

Before very long, the registration result was out. A total of two thousand, three hundred and thirty students had signed up. Among them twenty-seven were Martial Masters, and the rest were all warriors. Qin Yue could hardly contain the excitement in his heart. These students were the future pillars of the state, and now they were all his, which meant he had grasped the future of the state!

The martial arts arena was packed with people. Zhong Lishan walked up to the grandstand and made a clarion call, with which, the crowd fell silent in an instant.

He glanced at the students with sharp eyes, then said in a deep, powerful voice, “You are the most outstanding students of the academy. Sixty years ago, it was your seniors who had formed the first student army, fought the rebels, and saved Tianshui from peril. Now, with the enemy troops besieging Kunjin, our state is facing imminent danger once again. Therefore, I have learned from our seniors and gathered you here, so we can contribute to the state!”

“Contribute to the state!” All the students were high in spirits, with ardor and zeal coursing through their blood.

Zhong Lishan raised a hand to quiet down the crowd. “The campaign will be presided over by Prince Qin Yue, and after this is over, His Highness will lead you to a brighter future!”

The arena immediately burst into loud applause, and all eyes shone with enthusiasm. The prospect of becoming the prince’s trusted followers had given them hope for the future.

The dean turned to look at Qin Yue, but his pupils suddenly constricted and his eyes stopped at Li Chunyang. He was utterly shocked!

Li Chunyang returned his glance with a big smile, which confirmed his suspicion—the old man had broken through and become a Martial King.

He was happy, though. For many years after Xiao Qingwang was wounded, there had been not an opponent whom he could fight with all his might. Li Chunyang’s calm expression immediately stirred him up; he slightly narrowed his eyes and released his aura, which formed into a powerful pressure and soared into the air like a dragon, sweeping out menacingly.

With a cold snort, Li Chunyang put his palms together. Suddenly, his aura compacted into an arc and slashed out through the air. Sharp cutting noises spread in all directions as the arc smashed on the pressure, instantly producing a powerful vortex of force that spun over the arena.

Much of the pressure was dragged up into the air, but some still scattered into the surroundings. The students’ faces fell as the force pushed at them, and many were knocked off their feet, falling to the ground on their backs.

By now, even a fool could tell that some people were fighting in the dark. Shocked from that revelation, everyone glanced around.

Meanwhile, Zhong Lishan burst into laughter. “I would like to invite Prince Qin Yue to speak to us!”

The students were confused by the satisfied look on their dean’s face while Li Chunyang narrowed his eyes and sunk in deep thoughts.

Apart from the two men, Yunxiao was the only person who saw what happened—his grandfather had suffered a small defeat in that brief exchange. He smiled and did not take the outcome seriously. Zhong Lishan was a seasoned Martial King and had already reached the rank of four-stars while his grandfather was only a one-star Martial King. There was quite a gap between them.

Qin Yue stepped up the grandstand. An aura of someone who had remained in a superior status for a long time wafted out of him, making all the students beneath hold their breath and focus their attention on him, waiting quietly for him to talk.

He smiled and tried his best to calm down, then said in a loud, clear voice, “I have only four things to tell you today. First, each student who has signed up will receive three thousand gold coins! Second, if anyone dies in the battle, his or her family will receive the pension of a grade-five officer, and those who come back alive will receive another three thousand gold coins and be promoted to grade-five officers! Third, those who perform deeds of valor in battle will be incorporated into my personal guards!”

The students cheered at the top of their lungs when they heard that. As long as they survived the mission, they would each have six thousand gold coins and be directly promoted into a grade-five officer after graduating from the academy. And even if they died, their families could receive the pension of a grade-five officer, which was more than enough for them to live comfortably. It was like a pie falling from the sky. Normally, when a student graduated, he or she would have to start as a grade-seven page in the army, and it would take at least ten years to be promoted to grade five, unless the student was already a Martial Master, which gave him or her the right to directly join the State Guardians.

As for the third point, that those who performed deeds of valor in battle would be incorporated into the prince’s personal guards, it was simply a complete change of one’s destiny. After all, if Qin Yue really ascended the throne in the future, they would be the emperor’s personal guards, with the status that was not lower than that of the grade-one courtiers!

When those students who had not signed up heard the lucrative rewards, their eyes immediately grew wide and their hearts were filled with regret!

“And lastly, I’ve decided to appoint Li Yunxiao as your commander. He will lead you to fight the enemy, and I want you all to obey his orders!”

A hush fell over the crowd, and Zhong Lishan frowned slightly. Even Yunxiao was gaping, as Qin Yue’s decision came as a surprise to him.

“Why? You disagree with this?” Qin Yue glanced coldly at the crowd, but no one dared to make a sound.

Suddenly someone shouted, “Yes, I disagree unless he can defeat me!”

Then, another voice rang out as well, “Me too!”

The crowd immediately turned to the two students, and when they saw who the speakers were, they nodded silently.

If there were anyone who dared to challenge Yunxiao after he had defeated Lan Xuan with one move, that would be the two students who ranked higher than Lan Xuan on the Minor Power Chart—Lin Yu and Bai Chengfeng!

“It’s good for young people to be energetic and dare to challenge,” said Qin Yue with a smile. “Come out then, Young Master Yun. Please don’t lose, for that would be a slap in my face.”

Yunxiao had a bitter smile on his face. It was true that Qin Yue would suffer a blow in dignity if he were to back off now. The prince was in the midst of establishing his authority, and he could not afford to suffer any kind of losses that would impact his effort. With no other choice, Yunxiao walked up to the arena as he glanced at Lin Yu and Bai Chengfeng and said indifferently, “Fight me together, both of you.”

The arena was boiling once again. The top few students in the Minor Power Chart were all idols of many people, and Yunxiao’s arrogance angered them. Although he had defeated Lan Xuan with one move, most people thought it was largely due to luck. How could he ask both of their idols to fight him together? Lin Yu and Bai Chengfeng, on the other hand, looked very angry as well, as if they had been deeply insulted.

Of all the people, only Zhong Lishan was shocked. He had been so busy looking at Li Chunyang just now that he had ignored Yunxiao. ‘He’s already an eight-stars warrior? I thought he had just become a one-star warrior not long ago? How did he do that?’

‘Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!’

He felt it absurd and quickly dismissed the thought that Yunxiao had broken through continuously and become an eight-stars warrior in just slightly over ten days. However, no matter how he studied Yunxiao with his divine sense, he found that he was truly an eight-stars warrior! His expression immediately turned strange like a duck with its neck squeezed by someone.

Yunxiao walked up the arena to where he had defeated Lan Xuan with one move. His statue was standing mightily not far away, shining dazzlingly under the bright sunlight.

Lin Yu, who was on the left, suddenly jumped up and thrust his spear a few times, then stepped lightly on the tip of the spear and fell back on the ground.

His beautiful performance immediately won him a round of loud cheers and applause. With the spear in hand, he said angrily, “Li Yunxiao, you are too arrogant!”

Yunxiao smiled faintly and said, “So what? I have the strength to be arrogant.”

“We’ll know if you truly have the strength after this!” Lin Yu squatted down a little, then thrust his spear and jumped tens of feet forward, leaving afterimages behind him as the tip of his spear went for Yunxiao’s vital spots.

“He’s so fast, and his attack is so powerful!” All students were shocked while those in the front rows felt a stab of pain in their ears from the explosive noise caused by the attack.

Zhong Lishan’s eyes lit up as he said approvingly, “The attack is as powerful as a tiger and a dragon, and there’s a faint tiger roar mixed with a dragon screech. Although this Lin Yu is only a three-stars Martial Master, he can already perform such a fearsome attack. He’s truly gifted!”

Li Chunyang’s pupils constricted; he was worried about his grandson. He knew Yunxiao was strong, but he had never seen the latter fight before. Moreover, Yunxiao’s opponent was a three-stars Martial Master, and the attack was such a mighty one that perhaps even a five-stars Martial Master might not be able to defend against it.

“Not bad, the Dragon and Tiger Spear Technique! In this case, I’ll subdue the dragon and tiger today!”

Yunxiao’s pupils shone with a strange light as he took a step and locked himself in a horse stance, then lifted his right fist and casually pushed it out toward the tip of the spear. Meanwhile, he smiled and said, “Watch carefully, Meng Bai! Didn’t you keep asking me to teach you the Tiger Knuckle Fist? I’ll teach you now!”

“Tiger Knuckle Fist!”

“What!” All eyes grew wide in an instant. It was not Yunxiao’s choice of Tiger Knuckle Fist that shocked them, but his action of fighting the sharp tip of the spear with his fist! Was he mad?

Yes, under the protection of Primordial Qi, a warrior did not have to be afraid of sharp weapons, but Yunxiao was one realm lower than his opponent!

Bam!

The fist smashed on the spear tip, causing it to produce the vibrating sound of a mystic weapon.

The Tyrant Body Tempering Technique cultivated by Yunxiao was the strongest body tempering technique in the world, which had given him a body as strong as a diamond!

“He stopped the attack! How’s that even possible!” Everyone was shocked while Zhong Lishan and Li Chunyang had their mouths dropped open.

“Yes! Master is so strong! Defeat him, Master!” Meng Bai shouted excitedly. The Tiger Knuckle Fist performed by Yunxiao was exactly the same as the one he had learned from Uncle Li, but Uncle Li had never dared to fight a spear with bare hands.

Lin Yu could not believe what had happened. The force that came from the shaft had broken the skin of his palm and almost knocked the spear out of his hand. Although he did not know how Yunxiao did that, he knew that if he didn’t fight with all his might, he would probably never have a chance soon.

“Unseal!”

“The spear that moves like a tiger and a dragon, the Roaring Spear of Dragon and Tiger!”

As soon as the spear was unsealed, it transformed into numerous shadows and flew up into the air. Shockingly, all the shadows were actually tigers and dragons! While roaring, they swooped down from all directions and enveloped Yunxiao in an instant!