Monarch Night
Chapter 56 - 21 Unlucky Person

Chapter 56: Chapter 21 Unlucky Person

Fang Che watched Ding Jie Ran, smiling slightly.

Three seeds, having killed Ximen Xuri, resolved one, only two remained.

This Ding Jie Ran, couldn’t be killed either. That was why Fang Che chose another path: to befriend him.

With the forthrightness and passion of a martial artist, he stirred the heart of a fellow warrior.

Open and aboveboard, a breeze after the rain clears the skies.

And Ding Jie Ran’s demeanor was clearly that of a solitary and introverted person, the more so someone is, the more they lack friends.

Besides, due to their ages, seventeen or eighteen-year-olds, no matter how bad, still have a heart full of passion. Ah, commonly called the "chunibyo" phase.

Thus, Fang Che’s plan worked.

Of course, if this method had been ineffective, Fang Che would have changed it at any time, after all, different people require different approaches.

Well, first make friends, that should be fine, right? As for how things will develop later on, that will depend on the future.

Fang Che was very satisfied.

He had already conquered two out of three targets.

After all, having killed Ximen Xuri, he certainly considered that a conquest as well.

...

Seven advances to four!

Fang Che came out on top.

With that, everyone saw that Fang Che truly had the strength to win the championship. In fact, he could be said to be the firm favorite.

After all, no one could match his move, Sword Performance Floating Tower.

Countless students beat their chests in regret.

But it was already too late.

Moreover, among all the favorites for the championship, Fang Che had the lowest betting rate.

Only about seven thousand points were wagered on him.

Mostly, they were bets placed by young ladies who liked to watch handsome men!

It can be seen that in this face-judging society, those who worship beauty really have a significant advantage.

A tremendous victory for the beauty worshipers!

The male student body was almost completely wiped out!

For a moment, the campus was filled with cries of despair.

In contrast, the female martial artist students who had bet on Fang Che were cheering, their voices crisp and unified, actually drowning out the screams of the male students.

"Cousin! My cousin!"

"The cousin is mine!"

"Ah, I never thought I would win..." the one who uttered this expression was a round-faced, baby-fat girl, her face full of surprise.

This exclamation wasn’t of pretentious modesty, but like a knife, pierced into the hearts of the many gamblers.

They never expected to win...

While they themselves, analyzing back and forth, constantly shuffling and pondering, making various selections, ended up digging themselves into a hole.

And they couldn’t climb out!

Many male students felt darkness before their eyes, sensing that their future at the Martial Arts Academy would be bleak.

"I don’t want to live anymore..."

"Neither do I!"

"Just thinking about the living expenses, food money, cultivation costs after today... I want to die! Ah!"

"You... you bet everything? You don’t even have money left for food?"

"Wasn’t it a gamble to go all in? I didn’t leave behind even half a point, I put it all on that disappointing Ding Jie Ran... hey? Hey, brother, do you mean you still have some?"

"Scram! I don’t have any!"

"No, no, brother, big bro, daddy! Starting tomorrow, I’ll look up to you as my leader... Daddy, please don’t go..."

"..."

The entire White Cloud Martial Academy was shrouded in sorrow and despair.

...

Next up, Huo Churan versus Xie Gongping.

Before the fight began, almost everyone felt: at this point, the champion of the competition was practically set in stone.

Fang Che was almost assured the championship.

Whether the rest competed or not was now merely about contending for second and third place.

Frankly, there wasn’t much to watch.

Because Fang Che’s Sword Performance Floating Tower was an invincible existence, even if the remaining competitors had an overall strength greater than Fang Che, as long as that move was forced out, they were basically bound to lose.

With that being the case, what was there left to fight over?

Fight as they might, no one would be first.

Yet, the fighting in this match turned out to be exciting and intense, not to mention its tenacity, completely beyond everyone’s expectations.

Huo Churan and Xie Gongping, once they stepped onto the stage, went all out in their fight.

Fists and feet were first, thumping like drums, and when both had swollen faces, they simultaneously drew their swords and fiercely clashed.

Eventually, even their swords broke, and then the two began to grapple.

Their battle lasted a full hour without a clear victor!

In the end, both were drained of their True Yuan, yet neither was willing to fall, continuing to pummel each other with pure physical strength!

What was witnessed by the audience below was chilling to the bone, leaving a profound impact on their hearts.

What deep hatred could make them fight to such an extent!

Mo Gan Yun stood beside Fang Che, laughing heh heh and said, "These two families are sworn enemies; they’ve been at odds since they were three years old..."

"Really? Tell me more?"

Mo Gan Yun’s rough face revealed a smile as he said, "Huo Churan is the direct heir of the Huo Family from Fubo City, an eighth level Family, and Xie Gongping is the direct heir of the Xie Family from Fubo City, also an eighth level Family. Both are geniuses."

"The Huo Family and the Xie Family have been at odds like water and fire for two thousand years. Originally, both were seventh level families, but because they fought each other, they both fell to the eighth level, deepening their hatred even more. Thus, whenever these two families meet, they are bound to come to blows! Here in the Martial Academy, they can’t kill each other, but if it were outside, these two would long have fought to the death."

When Mo Gan Yun said, "Here in the Martial Academy they can’t kill each other," he glanced at Fang Che.

Profound in meaning.

Fang Che had an epiphany and said, "So that’s how it is."

Then he asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"As far as I know, Mr. Fang, you are the first person in the past three hundred years at Baiyun Martial Academy to kill someone during the newcomer competition."

Mo Gan Yun sighed, "Such a talent."

"Ah?"

"Don’t think that after killing Ximen Xuri everything seems calm now; however, the Martial Arts Academy doesn’t know how much work they need to do. No matter what, Ximen Xuri was legitimately admitted to the academy, and ranked among the top. To have someone killed on the spot, in front of tens of thousands of witnesses during the competition... It’s a huge accident for the academy."

"No matter how despicable Ximen Xuri was, no matter how much he didn’t follow the rules, no matter how his sneak attack failed and he got killed instead... Those are just reasons, and they can’t cover up the accident of a martial artist being killed in public upon just entering the school."

"For you personally, maybe you only need to be wary of revenge from the Ximen Family, since everyone with clear eyes saw that you couldn’t be blamed. But just because you can’t be blamed doesn’t mean others won’t be unlucky."

Mo Gan Yun indicated towards the stage with his eyes, "Didn’t you see... the change of referees on the stage? When you fought Ximen Xuri, those two instructors who served as referees, I’m afraid they’ve taken the blame, being the obvious scapegoats."

Fang Che fell silent for a moment before saying softly, "In such a situation, how can those two teachers be blamed? Nobody had time to react, right?"

"It’s one thing to say so, but they were the only ones on the stage at the time, and not being able to prevent it is a mistake! Because they were the referees! They were the ones responsible for safety."

"The Martial Arts Academy will reason with you, and everyone knows what happened, but society won’t reason with you! The logic is, a good child was killed at the academy, and you as a teacher, were right there but you failed to stop it! That’s negligence, a grave sin!"

"With the strength of the Martial Arts Academy, they naturally wouldn’t care about a Ninth level Family like the Ximen Family, but they must give an explanation to all sectors of society. So, even though they know there was a cause for the incident, even though they know the two instructors are innocent, the stain is inescapable."

Mo Gan Yun sighed, "If those two instructors don’t have someone to protect them... I’m afraid..."

He shook his head and said no more.

There was a loud bang from the stage.

It was Huo Churan and Xie Gongping punching each other in the eye sockets at the same time.

Both had black eyes.

Then, the two completely drained fighters staggered back with their purplish, swollen heads and fell backwards.

With a thud, they lay on their backs with their legs up in the air.

It turned out to be a tie, with no winner!

The crowd was in an uproar.

No one expected that after all this fighting, it would end this way.

However, everyone saw that these two lads had not only tried their hardest, but also used every ounce of their strength.

They just couldn’t defeat each other.

No choice but to declare a draw.

But Fang Che was no longer paying attention to the stage, instead, he was thinking about what Mo Gan Yun had just said.

He felt somewhat heavy-hearted.

The battle between Huo Churan and Xie Gongping had taken up the entire afternoon!

As dusk fell, the fight between Qiu Yunshang and Jing Shuanggao, along with the final championship battles, would have to be postponed until tomorrow.

Moreover, this presented a dilemma for the Martial Arts Academy: what should they do about a tie? How would they go from seven to four?

Maybe they had to go from seven to five?

This matter needed further discussion.

Fang Che declined an invitation from Fang Qingyun and left alone.

...

The two instructors responsible for officiating the fight between Fang Che and Ximen Xuri, Gao Yunqi and Zhou Yi, left the Martial Arts Academy with heavy faces and found a small tavern to drink together.

They only ordered two small dishes, and brought in four big jars of wine.

Not touching the dishes, they had already finished a jar of wine without uttering a word.

Finally...

Gao Yunqi let out a wry laugh, "This matter is really... bizarre. Such misfortune."

Zhou Yi chuckled, "Yeah, bizarre. After being injured last time, I wanted to die in the front lines, but I was sent to the Baiyun Martial Academy by an order... Initially, I was adamantly opposed to coming here, but then I did."

"After I arrived, life was peaceful without much danger, so I took a wife and had children, intending to nurture some talents with my broken body and to make my life worthwhile. But now... haha..."

Zhou Yi laughed, "I don’t really care, but it’s a pity, my wife and children enjoyed only a few years of blessing with me, and now they have to live in constant fear."

He sighed, "Looking back, I was fooling myself. I spent my life cultivating, fighting, for a hundred and fifty years without thinking of family. After becoming disabled and returning to the rear, I went to find a wife and drag her down, really... what was the point?"

"If I had known this day would come, why did I ever start?"

Gao Yunqi smiled slightly, "Same for me, my wife and children are still at home... haha, let’s drink."

Zhou Yi said, "What do you think the Martial Arts Academy will do this time?"

"The Martial Arts Academy will definitely protect us."

Gao Yunqi sighed, "Especially Vice Mountain Master Huang, he definitely won’t yield. With his support, as long as we can thicken our skins a bit, there’s really nothing to worry about. A superficial punishment that doesn’t hurt will do, and after a while, this storm will blow over."

Zhou Yi chuckled, lifted his bowl, and drank it all in one go, saying, "If only our skins were really that thick, that’d be great."

"Hehehe..."

Gao Yunqi chuckled, lifting his wine bowl, "Let’s drink."

"Unfortunately, the thousand-year reputation of Baiyun Martial Academy couldn’t be tarnished just because of our blemish. The moment the academy protects its own teachers, regardless of right or wrong, it would be seen as favoritism."

"Yes! It would look like officials covering for each other, a den of corruption."

"Bullying the weak."

Both men, having wandered Jianghu all their lives, could foresee the consequences of this incident.

Reputation isn’t so easily managed!

"When the Martial Arts Academy reaches a decision, let’s volunteer ourselves to the Xin Chu frontier, and frankly, have a few more bouts with those demons from the Wei Wo Zheng Sect!"

"Good!"

The two lifted their bowls, shared a knowing smile.

Comrades of the past, colleagues today, and tomorrow, they would become comrades again!

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"Remember to arrange for your families."

"Understood."

They both laughed heartily.