It’s over. It’s all over. Are we truly unable to defeat Bi Er?
Bi Er advanced two steps and said with an apologetic voice, “Forgive me. I hadn’t meant to use such a great maneuver. As Dong Ri’s arrows are truly difficult to deal with, I had no choice but to use that technique. You should now concede.”
The only person that could currently move was me. I cannot lose. Never in my entire life had I thirsted more for victory. In the face of such a difficult victory, I had unexpectedly stood up. Looking coldly at Bi Er, I tremblingly lifted my magic staff and began chanting, “Oh Mighty God of Creation, I humbly request your assistance. Use your endless power and open my life’s origin.” Just as I said this, a tall shadow of a man appeared behind me and used his palm to chop at my neck. I groaned and fainted onto the ground.
It was Teacher Wen that appeared at that crucial moment. He emotionally held me as I was fainting, murmuring, “Foolish child, how are you so stupid? How could you possible use life magic? If I were a step slower, I would have eternally been unable to forgive myself.” Tears flowed from the corners of Teacher Wen’s eyes. Truly, I had wanted to use life magic to arouse my latent life energy. However, the damage would have been at least the loss of half of my life’s energy. Even so I had wanted to pay the cost of my life. It was fortunate that Teacher Wen had heard my incantation in time to stop me.
The audience observing the fight were in a tremendous uproar. A great many people recognized Li Ke Wen. They all loudly shouted, “Foul! Foul!”
The referee walked over and respectfully asked, “Honored Principal, What are you…?”
Teacher Wen held me and stood up. He waved his hand, saying, “I conceded on behalf of the Brilliance Team.” He turned his head toward Bi Er and said, “I will go to your father and acknowledge my error.” Bi Er had wanted to say something, but seeing Wen’s remorseful complexion he had refrained from saying anything.
The competition ended with our crushing defeat.
I regained consciousness .Where is this? Such an unfamiliar place. I turned my sore neck and looked around. It was a very large room. Apart from mine there were four more beds, each with a member of the Brilliant Battle Squad lying in them. Gao De and Xing Ao were chatting. As for Dong Ri and Xiu Si, I didn’t know whether they were sleeping or still knocked out.
I painfully groaned, Xing Ao said, “Ah, Zhang Gong is awake! Boss Zhang Gong, how are you feeling?” Huh? When have I become your boss?
I weakly said, “I’m not dead yet. How did we get here? What happened in our last match?”
Xing Ao sighed and started talking about what happened after we lost consciousness.
It turned out that after the competition had concluded, King Xiuda had heard of our tenacious spirit and had us specially recover inside the Imperial Palace under the treatment of imperial physicians. Something else that amazed me was that Duke Bi Qi hadn’t pressed Teacher Wen for an apology. He had only said that the matter was over.
Hearing that Teacher Wen hadn’t been humiliated, I let out a long sigh and said with regret, “This is all because I failed accomplish what was expected of me. It seems the path I must walk is still quite long.”
Xing Ao chuckled and sincerely said, “That’s enough, Zhang Gong. Right now, I am dead set on serving you. With our strength we actually managed to beat the Prince’s Squad. That was something that already surprised me, but even more so you three had managed to almost defeat the Wind Dragon Squad. I heard from Teacher Wen that had he not stopped you, you would have used life magic. You are truly too competitive. If it weren’t for you, I fear our combined strength would have been far too lacking. When we prevailed over the Prince’s squad, Gao De and I, even Boss Xiu Si had decided that we must to follow and accompany you on your adventures. We would follow no other person but you.
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Volume 3: Chapter 29 – A Journey’s Preparation
Xing Ao’s words gave me a burst of warmth. Smiling, I said, “Be at ease. We’re all part of the same battle squad, so I’ll never forget any of you. Dong Ri and Xiu Si, what’s the situation?”
“Although the injuries were very severe, they weren’t life threatening. So we’ll be fine after some rest. Enough talk. You should go rest now and I’ll call you once it’s time to eat.”
“Alright, I’m really struggling to keep my eyes open, so I’ll sleep first.” All of the problems have been resolved. While not perfect, it was still satisfactory. Feeling relaxed and at ease, I quickly entered the land of dreams.
After an unknown amount of time passed, I smelled a fragrant scent. The alluring scent which woke me from my dreams. I opened my eyes in a dazed manner. Wa! Everyone is already eating right now. I feebly asked, “Ah, is there any for me? I’m so hungry.”
Teacher Wen was also present in the room. After seeing that I had awoken, he smiled and said, “You awoke just as I was about to call you. You truly are too gluttonous. Get up and eat then.” A maid helped me into a half sitting, half lying position before putting a small table over the bed. She brought over a bowl of thick soup and a few pastries.
I shamefully said, “I’m sorry Teacher Wen, I didn’t accomplish the mission.”
Teacher Wen lightly shook his head saying, “Child, you have already done extraordinarily well. However, in the future you can’t rashly use your Life Magic, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to face Lao Yun. Bi Qi isn’t that unreasonable either. If it had been a fair match, we definitely would have won. In fact, losing might not necessarily be a bad thing for you. Your defeat has let you all learn where you are lacking. So in the future you must diligently practice. Let’s eat now.” His last few words were directed at everyone.
I was already unable to speak anymore due to the excessive amount of drool in my mouth. The pale yellow soup’s aroma assaulted my nostrils as I drank. Wa! So tasty! I couldn’t help but ask, “What soup is this? It’s so delicious!”
Xiu Si answered, “This a secret recipe of the Royal Court called the Immortal Soup. It was made using numerous kinds of wild animals, mushrooms, ancient mountain ginseng, reishi mushrooms, young deer antlers, fleece-flower root and many other precious high-grade medicinal ingredients and stewed for a long time. It’s extremely expensive! But this time it’s for you. Haha.”
My face blushed red as I mumbled to myself, “How can you say it’s only for me? Aren’t you all drinking it too?” Everyone burst into laughter from amusement. I couldn’t help but laugh as well, and only stopped after it began hurting. Like this thick soup, our companionship was covering the room. After going through a trial of life and death together, our relationship has grown much closer.
Like a tornado, I quickly finished my food while everyone else was still eating. I looked around and saw that Dong Ri was the slowest eater of them all. I asked him, “Are your pastries tasty?”
Dong Ri laughed when he saw my gluttonous expression and said, “Here.” I accurately caught the pastry he threw with my mouth. I turned around and said to Xiu Si, “Wow! Xiu Si your soup is so different from mine. What kind of flavor does it have?” Nobody could bear it after hearing my words. Gao De had pastry crumbs falling from his mouth. Sorrowfully, I said, “Don’t let your food go to waste if you’re not eating it.”