Chapter 21: First Combat
Chen Hao had known Su Yu for years. He knew this buddy of his well. There were no other students around. That was a lie! This person was from the Myriad Race Cult! He had nearly gotten Su Yu killed!
"I'm too stupid! I'm too stupid! Sorry, Yu! Sorry..." Chen Hao's legs turned limp and his entire body felt weak. He suddenly recalled what Su Yu said previously and hurriedly said, "Instructor, I-I'm scared. My legs are limp. Can you give me a hand?"
He was really scared. And he really couldn't walk. Both his legs were trembling. The man turned around impatiently. If it wasn't for the sake of finding the remaining students, he would have cut this student down immediately. He was worried that killing this student now would scare the other students away. If they started running, he might not be able to catch all of them.
"I'll carry you." The man reached out, preparing to carry Chen Hao with him.
"Hao, you're so useless. Why are you troubling the instructor?" Behind the man, Su Yu mumbled as he tightened his grip on his saber. His palms were sweating so much the handle felt slippery. While mumbling, he approached the man. The moment the man reached out for Chen Hao, Su Yu's eyes flickered with ruthlessness. That was the moment he had been waiting for!
"Hao, walk yourself. Don't trouble the instructor..."
Whoosh!
The sound of a swinging blade rang out and the man looked back instinctively, wondering if he had been discovered. It didn't matter though. He was only dealing with Source Opening cultivators here...
Only Source...Opening?
Source Opening?
No, that was not the case!
The man wanted to dodge, but he found himself incapable of controlling his limbs any longer. His neck was suddenly assaulted by intense pain. By mere instinct, the man thought to himself that this wasn't the right way to sever one's head. The cut was too sloppy.
It hurt badly. When severing heads, one needed to be fast, accurate, and ruthless. This kid wasn't accurate enough, failing to sever the head in one go, subjecting the man to an intense torture.
Plop!
The head finally dropped to the ground. The man's body was still standing there, maintaining the same posture as before. One of his hands was still holding onto a saber while the other was still in the middle of reaching out for Chen Hao. The dream of killing more than ten students was no more. Only eternal silence remained for the man.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Plop!
The corpse collapsed onto the ground.
.
"Hu...hu...hu..." Su Yu heavily gasped for breath as his mind turned blank.
A decent amount of blood had sprayed onto Chen Hao's face, so his mind was blanking out. Killed! Yu had killed that fellow with one slash!
"Y-Yu..."
Chen Hao wasn't able to control his limbs as he fell weakly onto the ground. Using all four of his limbs, he crawled toward Su Yu, ignoring how sorry he looked. He had almost pissed himself earlier from fear.
"Yu...Yu...you...I...he's dead. He's dead...dead!"
Looking at the corpse and the blood on the ground, Su Yu's voice was hoarse as he said, "Calm. Stay calm. This is an enemy. An animal of the Myriad Race Cult. It's not like you've not seen any executions before. Let's go. We need...to change our hiding place...or more of them might come..."
This was not the time to deal with the corpse. They need to prioritize running away. That one slash he had performed earlier was causing his entire body to hurt. It wasn't a physical pain either. He was mentally in pain.
"Yes, go, we need to go..."
Chen Hao was about to crawl away before he thought of something. With his teeth clenched and his eyes shut, he turned around before searching the corpse. He did not dare to look at the corpse. But he also remembered that this would help him join a war academy!
As he searched, he could feel the sticky sensation on his palms. He didn't even dare to think about it. Before long, he found a small package. Without thinking or looking at it, he pulled it out and stuffed it into his pocket before dragging Su Yu away.
Su Yu was slightly calmed by Chen Hao's antics. He couldn't help scolding, "You're still thinking of that at this time? Are you trying to die?"
"I...can get into...a war academy with it...Yu...you killed him! You're amazing..."
Su Yu stopped talking and focused on leaving the cafeteria Chen Hao. He did not dare to go too far away as he was afraid that he would stumble upon more enemies. Instead, he picked a dark corner outside the cafeteria as the new hiding spot.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Su Yu's heart was still thumping fast, but he was slowly calming down. After a bit, he heaved a long breath and muttered, "That's nothing special. If I can get used to being killed, there is nothing I can't get used to!"
He was speaking in a self-mocking manner. Since he could accept his death, why would he be afraid of causing someone else's death? Meanwhile, battle was still raging all over the school. It might have seemed like a lot had happened, but only a minute had passed since the cult member stepped into the cafeteria.
"Hao!"
"Mhm?"
"Did you piss yourself?"
"N-no! Don't make things up! I didn't!"
Chen Hao denied with his face flushed red. Despite his strong denial, he still hurriedly glanced at his crotch. He was relieved to see it dry. He had been so scared that he couldn't feel anything. He probably wouldn't realize it even if he had really pissed himself.
"Yu...you're so incredible."
"Stop talking."
Su Yu scanned their surroundings. He could hear the shouts of their instructors. He could also see some people searching around in the distance.
"The school is losing the upper hand."
If it wasn't for that, the instructors wouldn't have allowed the cult members to freely search the school for students. There would definitely be some lone students around. Some might have been killed by now.
Looking at the saber in his hand, he wiped the blood off his body using some leaves he found nearby. Clenching his teeth, he asked, "Hao, are you afraid of death?"
"Ye-no!"
"Go. Go and see if there are other cult members nearby. If you see someone alone, just tell them that there are several students hiding here waiting for rescue."
"What?"
Su Yu explained, "The instructors don't have enough people to deal with these cult members. If we allow them to find the other students, they will be dead. Just lure an enemy or two over. I'll kill them and prevent a few deaths on our side."
"Yu!" Chen Hao was about to object when he recalled how Su Yu had killed the previous enemy with one swing of his saber. Instantly, his fear evaporated. Yeah, these enemies weren't that scary, after all..
"Ok. I'll go. Yu, c-can you still kill more?"
"Yes."
"Ok. We'll kill one more. You can get the credit for the previous kill, but can you give me the credit for the next kill? I want to join a war academy as well..."
"Sure."
At that, Chen Hao forgot all his fear and giggled in a silly manner. Even his limbs regained their strength. With his body slightly bent, Chen Hao peeked out from his hiding spot and looked around. Shortly after, he discovered several cult members searching the area. The nearest cult member was less than a hundred meters away.
Chen Hao was still somewhat afraid, but he calmed himself and spoke with a shuddering voice, "Instructor...is that an instructor?"
Not far away, the cult member's ears trembled as he looked straight at Chen Hao.
"Is that an instructor? W-we're scared. Can you take us away?"
"Instructor?"
The cult member’s eyes flickered. Was this student seeing him as an instructor? That was understandable. This was a conflict between fellow humans, and both sides looked the same. A normal student wouldn't be able to separate the two from each other. Of course, a more experienced person would be able to see the difference between the two, but these students were completely inexperienced. What would they know?
"Instructor, we still have a few people here. Can you take us away? So-someone was trying to kill us earlier..."
"A few more?" The cult member grew excited. He could see that Chen Hao was really afraid. That pale face couldn't be faked.
The cult member rushed over. He did not even consider the possibility of an ambush. The instructors with the strength to mount a proper ambush would be busy fighting somewhere else by now. There were fights everywhere in the school. Even the instructors assigned to protect the students were fully occupied. They wouldn't have the manpower to spare for any ambushes.
Chen Hao hastily scrambled back behind the wall. The man's ears trembled as he stretched his hearing. He wasn't afraid of ambush, but he still instinctively kept his guard up. Unless he was facing someone stronger, he would be able to detect any hidden opponent with his senses.
"There's another student hidden there."
He could hear some faint breathing. The breathing was heavy, clearly belonging to someone nervous. It was also quite loud, so it wasn’t coming from someone in the Great Strength Realm.
"You said that there are a few more of you. Are the others hiding somewhere else?"
The man glanced at his distant companions. These were his contribution points. He had to be careful not to let his companions discover these students. The man finally stepped behind the wall and saw that there was indeed another student there. The second student also had a pale face.
"An instructor is here? Zhou Tao and the others are still waiting for us. Instructor, what's going on? Has the Myriad Race Cult bastards broken into the school?" Yu hurriedly asked, joy apparent on his face. He tossed his saber away and ran forward, seemingly in great fear.
"Instructor, I'll take you to them..."
The saber had been tossed aside! The man was instantly relieved. Source Opening cultivators might still pose some threat to them with weapons, but when they were empty-handed, they wouldn't be able to kill a Great Strength cultivator even if they were allowed to attack freely. These students really thought that he was their instructor! What a foolish bunch!
"Where are they?" The man couldn't hide the joy in his voice. Like the previous cult member, he was seeing this encounter as free contribution points.
"Instructor, follow me..." Su Yu reached out, looking like he was trying to drag the man off with him.
The man frowned slightly. He wanted to avoid the hand, but he calmed down and decided to tolerate this for a little bit longer.
Splurt!
The moment that thought crossed his mind, the incoming hand turned into sharp claws before penetrating his flesh and stabbing into his heart. The hand he was using to carry his saber was grabbed by a second hand. With a crack, that arm was broken. The cult member wanted to shout, but he couldn't do so before his throat was torn apart.
Splurt! Splurt!
Large amount of blood sprayed out of the man's mouth. He collapsed onto the ground while staring blankly at Su Yu.
Great Strength Realm! High-stage Great Strength Realm! Impossible! This was Nanyuan! How could a student here be a Great Strength cultivator? This wasn't possible!
Su Yu hurriedly searched the corpse before dragging Chen Hao away. Chen Hao clearly not feeling any fear anymore. That idiot! He really thought that Su Yu could kill anyone! What was he doing standing there in excitement instead of running?
While running, Su Yu caught a golden flash at the edge of his vision. He looked up at the sky. And he was stunned by what he saw. A familiar figure was floating in the sky, shrouded in gold.
"Instructor Liu..."
Chen Hao saw the same sight. He was similarly shocked. In the air, Liu Wenyan was shining with a golden light. Source qi gathered around him.
Liu Wenyan's voice wasn't loud, but it was somehow able to spread very far, "It was never my desire to reach the Skyroar Realm. I only wish for world peace..."
How cool.
How fake.
That was the thought in Su Yu's mind. Sure, that was really cool. But that was also very fake. Instructor Liu clearly longed to achieve willpower materialization. But after finally achieving it, he claimed that it wasn't his wish to enter the Skysoar Realm? What a liar!