Chapter 193: Too Many Idiots (2)
Meanwhile, Xia Huyou was thinking of an entirely different matter. He looked somewhat pale as he shouted, "Lin Yao, didn't you say that your bet with him would still stand if he could prove himself? So are you conceding or are you going to fight Su Yu?"
Lin Yao had to say something! Holy shit! If Lin Yao stayed silent, what about the bets he had accepted? The match would remain inconclusive! In that case, wouldn't he have to refund all the bets? The pot had grown quite large!
That reminded the rest of the crowd. Someone who had placed a bet on Lin Yao hurriedly said, "Forget it. Cancel the match. Lin Yao, you're not his match. Su Yu has exhausted his source qi and willpower so there is no point in fighting now."
"Yeah. Forget it!"
"Lin Yao, don't go!"
"..."
"No way! How can we cancel it? If you don't want to fight, concede! Are you really a sore loser?"
Those who had placed their bets on Su Yu started speaking up as well. How could they cancel this match? Even if Lin Yao didn't want to fight, he had to concede first! What would happen to their bets if Lin Yao did not concede?
Lin Yao's face became redder and redder. The people who had arrived with him were all staying silent.
After a while, someone who was standing beside him sighed upon seeing that Lin Yao was still not saying anything. He said, "I'll concede on behalf of Lin Yao."
That man looked at Su Yu and said, "Lin Yao is able to accept his defeat. Our Great Xia Club is also able to accept our defeat. Su Yu, in cultivation, winning and losing are commonplace. But there is no denying that Lin Yao has been drugged.
"The Great Xia Club will continue investigating this. If this is all an act by Lin Yao, he would be expelled from the club. But if we found out that this was really the work of a different person..."
His tone turned cold, "The Great Xia Club would not let this slide. The culprit will pay a price!"
"It's Dai Qing! He's finally taking action!"
.
Someone in the crowd recognized the young man. His face was solemn as he said that.
Some of the new students had no idea who Dai Qing was. One of them asked, "Who's Dai Qing?"
"Don't you know the Top 100 Ranking? He holds the 75th place. He is also the deputy president of the Great Xia Club. This club mainly accepts the genius students from the capital. They have their own network and community in the academy. As a high-high student, Lin Yao is naturally one of their members. I did not expect that Dai Qing would still be willing to help him after all this."
In short, Dai Qing was similar to Hu Zongji's elder brother who was the deputy president of the Tianshui Club. These clubs would normally organize their own club activities and missions in the academy. And when their members encountered trouble, they would also provide assistance. An example would be this incident involving Lin Yao. They had only accompanied Lin Yao here today because Lin Yao had been drugged. They were supposed to get justice for him.
Unfortunately, Su Yu had defeated Chen Qi easily before they could even do anything to him, turning the accusation into a joke.
In the ring.
Su Yu calmly replied, "Feel free to investigate. If I'm really the culprit, don't hesitate to come after me. But don't even think of throwing the blame on me if I'm not the culprit. I don't like to create trouble, but I don't fear trouble."
Su Yu scanned the crowd and continued, "I joined the academy not for fame and attention. I only want to cultivate in peace. Yes, I have considered trying to enter the Top 100 Ranking. I am aiming to reach the Skysoar Realm. However, I am not interested in pointless conflicts.
"By entering the Top 100 Ranking, I can gain resources, recognition, and more support. That's why I'm willing to give that a try. But these personal fights...I honestly wouldn't have bothered if they hadn't offered me a large number of merit points as the bet.
"I don't like to bully others, but I won't let others bully me either. I don't even have the mountainbreak bull blood essence on me anymore. I already used it. Anyone still thinking of trying to get it from me can give up now. If I had been defeated in the match, my teacher would naturally think of a way to pay up. But now, after making this clear, if anyone still tries to come after me with the mountainbreak bull blood essence as the excuse, I can't promise that my saber will stop at only your shoulder next time."
After saying all that, Su Yu leaped off the ring and walked away. The crowd parted, allowing him to pass through.
As Su Yu walked, hundreds of students followed behind him.
One of them loudly declared, "The Character Faculty's intermediate class fully supports our class monitor! Don't even dare to think that you can bully us freely. Before trying to slander our class monitor, you have to get through us first."
"You guys don't own the Great Xia Club. My elder brother is in the club too. But I can see now that your club is worth nothing since you accept even someone like Lin Yao. I'll tell my elder brother to exit the club after this."
"That's right. My elder sister is in the club too. She was trying to get me to join after entering the senior class. But if that means I have to associate myself with someone like Lin Yao, I would rather give up."
A bystander smiled and said, "That's right. The Great Xia Club is getting more and more messy these days. You guys should join our Beifeng Club instead. We promise equal treatment to all students regardless of where you come from."
"Tianshui Club welcomes everyone. We are not the kind of people that would allow rot to fester in our club."
The other clubs were quick to take the opportunity to step on the Great Xia Club. Dai Qing's expression was unchanged. He didn't say anything. But when he looked at Lin Yao again, his eyes were much colder.
He had no choice but to do what he did earlier. If he had stayed silent, there would be trouble as well. After all, they had arrived with such great fanfare earlier. How would others view them if they did nothing?
But the crowd's reaction was clear that even doing something would still bring him trouble. Lin Yao alone had ruined their reputation. If their investigation revealed that this was all an act by Lin Yao, he would not hold back.
Even in defeat, one must be graceful. If Lin Yao was really the kind of person to drug himself to avoid a fight with Su Yu, he wouldn't be a member worth keeping. This was the kind of person you had to watch your back against if you ended up side by side with him in the battlefield.
After all, a large number of the Myriad Race Cult members were actually army deserters. Lin Yao was showing the potential of being one of these deserters in the future.
Lin Yao was still pale. He softly said, "I'll pay the merit points myself. But I really didn't drug myself. I wasn't even aware that Su Yu is this strong before. Why would I be afraid of him? Someone else must have drugged me!"
He glanced at Chen Qi and continued, "Someone else must have been worried that I would defeat Su Yu and get the mountainbreak bull blood essence for myself and secretly challenged Su Yu to another match..."
The moment Dai Qing heard that, his eyes flickered. He had been too distracted earlier to think too deeply about this. But if Lin Yao wasn't the culprit, then Chen Qi would be the biggest suspect.
At that thought, Dai Qing glanced at the dazed Chen Qi coldly. That was also a member of their club. If he was really the culprit...
Dai Qing cursed inwardly. Even if they had to expel him, they had to do it secretly. It would be too humiliating if news of that spread. After all, that would basically be an internal conflict in the club. To make things worse, Chen Qi and Lin Yao were both members of the same faction.
"Fuck!"
Dai Qing cursed. He felt like killing both of them.
Bastards!
Meanwhile, Lin Yao heaved a breath of relief. Although he had made a fool of himself, all the smart people would soon come to a different conclusion. Chen Qi simply held the biggest suspicion.
He naturally knew that Chen Qi was the one who had drugged him. But he was also afraid of losing to Su Yu. That was why he had taken the chance to throw the blame on Su Yu.
He did not want to fight Su Yu. He was scared of losing and embarrassing himself. But since he had already thoroughly embarrassed himself, it no longer mattered. The only blame he couldn't take was being the one to drug himself. Otherwise, that would turn even the Great Xia Club against him.
He was the one who had brought them out to seek justice. If he turned out to be the actual culprit, he might as well quit the academy now.
"Chen Qi..."
Lin Yao also glanced at Chen Qi and snorted inwardly. At the very least, he was not the only one who had been humiliated today. Chen Qi even had to face the club's punishment next. Seeing that someone else would suffer a worse fate than him, Lin Yao did not feel that bad anymore.
The two should have hated Su Yu for everything that had happened, but right now, Lin Yao hated Chen Qi more. That was the person who had drugged him. If it wasn't for Chen Qi, he wouldn't have gained the inspiration for the act today and ended up humiliating himself.
...
In the ring.
Liu Hong had a clear guess as to what had happened. In fact, from the moment Su Yu and Chen Qi entered the ring, he had guessed the entire chain of events. The only thing that had surprised him was the fact that Chen Qi actually had the courage to drug Lin Yao.
"Idiot."
That was Liu Hong's judgment. Even if Chen Qi could defeat Su Yu and gain the blood essence, his role in drugging Lin Yao might still end up exposed in the end.
"As idiotic as your teacher."
Liu Hong added.
Hu Wensheng might be dumb, but at the very least, he was courageous and magnanimous. As for Chen Qi, he was even worse than Hu Wensheng.
Liu Hong said nothing else and left the ring. He walked toward Lin Yao and patted his student's shoulder before saying, "I believe in you. You won't do something like drugging yourself. Defeat and victory are commonplace in cultivation. Don't worry too much about it."
Those words greatly moved Lin Yao.? When the entire world was doubting him, his great teacher alone stood beside him. His teacher was the sole person in the world who believed in him.
"Teacher..."
Liu Hong said, "Don't be discouraged. Su Yu is really a talented genius. Among the new students, no more than three students have the hope to defeat him."
Of course, the abnormal new students were not included in his calculation.
"You are only slightly too prideful. Let down your pride and cultivate one step at a time. I believe that you will be able to catch up to him soon!
"Lin Yao, back then, your teacher wasn't the match of Su Yu's teacher, Bai Feng, either. Even now, I might still be weaker than him. But I am still an eighth-stage Skysoar. No more than five students from my generation are better than me. We might not be able to get the first place, but we can still grow into experts, becoming geniuses in the eyes of others. There is still a long path ahead of us. We will keep walking our path. If we can't defeat them at the Skysoar Realm, we can wait until the Cloudbreach Realm. If that doesn't work, there is also the Mountainsea Realm."
Liu Hong's encouragement successfully lifted Lin Yao's spirits.
Yes! His teacher was right! He might have lost today, but he wouldn't lose forever! He could do it!
"Go back and cultivate hard. Ask me if you have any questions. I will try to get more opportunities for you. Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough and I'm only an assistant researcher. There are things that I wish to do but can't do."
Liu Hong sighed helplessly. He was basically saying that it wasn't that he didn't want to grab more benefits for Lin Yao. He was simply too weak to do so.
"Teacher..."
Lin Yao was extremely touched. All his negative emotions from before vanished. His teacher would grow strong. And at that time, his teacher would fight for more benefits for him.
"My grandpa can..."
Liu Hong frowned and tightened his grip on Lin Yao's shoulder before saying, "Don't say those words. For cultivation, it is better to rely on yourself. Lin Yao, you still don't understand that external forces will forever remain external forces. Only your own strength is truly yours."
Liu Hong had never expected to gain any benefits from Lin Yao. If he wanted something, he would look for Lin Yao's grandfather instead. Lin Yao was still not qualified to talk on behalf of his grandfather.
In truth, Liu Hong had his eyes set on one of the promotion slots this year. As far as Liu Hong was concerned, Lin Yao's grandfather should get ready to support his bid for that position. Otherwise, well, that grandfather would have to get ready to collect his grandson from Liu Hong.
Liu Hong did not intend to tell Lin Yao too much. That was just a stupid kid. He only needed to focus on cultivating.
After walking together for a bit, Liu Hong transmitted his voice to Lin Yao, "Watch out for Chen Qi. I suspect he's the culprit. Hu Wensheng had gone into seclusion after his defeat in the hands of Bai Feng. I am the flagbearer of the single character faction's Skysoar cultivators. However, there might be someone else behind Chen Qi. Perhaps...I am the true target for this scheme. You might have been implicated by me. But don't be afraid. I'll deal with this.If I can survive this attack, my position would be stronger. As my student, you would be able to gain more support as well.
"They are unwilling to see your teacher become the leader of the Skysoar cultivators in our faction. Someone is trying to snatch this position from me. They want to use you to threaten my position. Lin Yao, hang in there! Your teacher is fighting alongside you!"
Lin Yao's eyes lit up. So that was the truth! So the mountainbreak bull blood essence was not the sole catalyst for all that had happened. There was another scheme behind the scheme. They wanted to suppress his teacher. They wanted to snatch his teacher's position.
He understood!
He finally understood!
Lin Yao was even starting to get excited. Liu Hong had finally acknowledged his worth by telling him all this. In that case, as long as Liu Hong could strengthen his current position, as his student, Lin Yao would be able to gain even more benefits than before.
"Grandpa...I need to look for grandpa and ensure that they can't suppress Teacher! Damn it! Chen Qi and those on his side are actually trying to rise back up? Even Hu Wensheng had been defeated. Who else but Teacher can take over the position of the Skysoar leader? Are we supposed to rely on some garbage instead?"
Lin Yao was furious. Damn Chen Qi and the others. They were too shameless!
...
"The world is truly filled with idiots..."
Liu Hong muttered to himself while walking away from his student. This time, he had given very little to gain a rather large benefit. This was quite good for him. This was the way he enjoyed living.
As for losing face, what a joke. Lin Yao was the one who had lost. It wasn't him. Why would he lose any face?
Since Bai Feng's faction was proving tougher and tougher, this was his perfect chance to ask for even more benefits from his faction. How was he supposed to continue suppressing Bai Feng without more support?