The Attack of the Wastrel

Half an hour was not a very long period of time, but for the students under attack, it seemed like forever.

Finally, when Rong Yuan announced that time was up, the defenders slumped to the floor, drawing in deep breaths. This high intensity training was even more tiring than one whole day of normal training.

As for Pan Yue, he lay sprawled on the floor as he eyed his group members who were still glaring at him.

“You people must be jealous of how amazing I am. Don’t worry too much about it.”

How did someone who was so disliked managed to develop such a vain personality?

Those who heard it immediately rolled their eyes, doing away with all thoughts of sucking up to the prince. Given his personality, he probably would not survive well in the palace anyway. In consideration of the long-term benefits, it was better not to be roped into the same camp as this fellow.

“Once you’re done resting, immediately get up and help your classmates train. Don’t you want revenge for what you suffered earlier?”

Even as the students were laughing at the defenders who lay on the floor groaning, Rong Yuan’s instructions immediately made the defenders perk up, as though they instantly recovered from their exhaustion.

How could they suffer the training alone? It was now their turn to get back at their classmates!

The first round of defenders now rubbed their hands gleefully, in preparation for the attacks they would unleash on their peers. A sinister air soon descended within the practice room.

Looking sinisterly at the one who had attacked him the hardest earlier, Pan Yue whispered, “It’s going to be your turn soon! Don’t beg for mercy later!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not like someone who got bruised and battered all over, to the point that he couldn’t protect his important parts,” replied that person, deliberately eyeing a certain spot on Pan Yue’s body. Pan Yue’s expression immediately darkened.

“That was an accident!”

That person merely smiled knowingly before walking into the centre of the group.

Meanwhile, Gu Lingzhi was also standing in the center of her group. One of her group members, Qin Xinran reassured her, “Don’t worry Lingzhi, I won’t go too hard on you.”

Qin Xinran pointed at another youth who was the first in their group to defend, who had long since changed into a new set of clothes.

Gu Lingzhi looked at the youth who looked like he had swallowed a fly, and laughed, “What, you don’t trust me?”

“Of course I trust you!” Qin Xinran immediately nodded her head, but continued, “But if you get beaten up too badly, His Highness will not be too happy.”

Gu Lingzhi followed Qin Xinran’s gaze to find Rong Yuan retracting his look of warning. Awkwardly meeting her eyes, Rong Yuan sheepishly smiled, while Gu Lingzhi pouted.

Was he trying to spoil her by giving her an easy way out even during training?

Looking back at her group members, she found that they were laughing at her. The Third Prince was always giving her a hard time....

“Don’t bother with him, do what you’re supposed to do. I’m not that fragile,” Gu Lingzhi asserted, before taking her position.

Once everyone was in position, Yuan Zheng announced the beginning of the second round, and the practice room once again filled with flashes of color.

Despite what Gu Lingzhi had said, two of her group members still did not dare to attack her seriously. Even the youth who was beaten black and blue in the first round only released a slow fireball that drifted aimlessly.

It could not be helped, the Third Prince was too intimidating that he could not help but submit.

On the other hand, once she was certain that the attacks were posing no challenge to Gu Lingzhi, Qin Xinran began to turn up the heat. As for the battle maniac Tianfeng Jin, she had been going seriously from the start.

In her eyes, Gu Lingzhi was someone she saw as an equal; hence, going easy on her would be a kind of humiliation.

As the training continued, more students began to cry out in pain. Using the Swallow Wings movement technique, Gu Lingzhi avoided all the attacks while surveying the class. To her surprise, she found that every other student had already been hit at least once or twice. The male student in Pan Yue’s group looked especially pitiful. His clothes were literally in tatters, and the spare clothes he had in his Storage Ring were torn up as well.

There was no word better to describe the state of the class now than “pitiful”.

At this moment, Rong Yuan’s voice sounded out, as he said, “Look at all you people crying out in pain. Have you spent the last few years in the Royal School in vain? You can’t even match up to someone who had just entered the Royal School last year!”

Rong Yuan had made his way to Gu Lingzhi’s side and looked at her with his face full of praise.

“As fellow students in the Royal School, why is it that Lingzhi can do it but none of you can? Buck up, all of you! Those who get hit more than ten times will have five point deducted from them!”

A series of groans followed Rong Yuan’s declaration.

The students all looked at themselves tearfully, counting the number of hits they had gotten. The Third Prince had gotten a lot harsher than the previous year, deducting five points in a single lesson!

Pan Yue smirked insidiously, mocking, “Beg me if you want. If you do it, I might consider going easy on you.”

This prince from the North Qiu Kingdom was truly sick in the head. Rolling their eyes, the other students tried to ignore him. Yet, Pan Yue instead began to attack even more ferociously, blasting a few more balls of water as he said, “Consider carefully! If I don’t go easy on you, passing this class will be extremely difficult for all of you. Hmph, and here I still thought that the Royal School of the Xia Kingdom had truly exceptional students. Obviously you’re all just bags of straw, who can’t even clear such a simple task. What an overblown reputation.”

Pan Yue’s voice was not soft, and almost everyone in the room had heard it. They stared at him with animosity. Just at this moment, Yuan Zheng announced the end of the practice.

Assessing the state of injuries among his students, Rong Yuan laughed blandly and said, “Fifth Prince, I seem to recall that you were in a similar state yourself.”

“So what?” Pan Yue countered brazenly. “It’s not like I’m a genius, not passing the challenge is normal for someone like me, is it not?”

… Indeed, not only was this Fifth Prince strange, his skin was exceptionally thick as well.

Gu Lingzhi looked at Rong Yuan and teased, “You’ve finally found someone who has skin as thick as yourself.”

“Fifth Prince, although you are a guest, the reputation of Martial Artists of my Xia Kingdom is not for you to trample on as you please. Whether the reputation of our students is real or exaggerated can be easily determined with a few duels,” one of the students immediately shouted, issuing a challenge. This immediately caused a chain reaction, leading to the rest of the students standing out to issue their challenges to Pan Yue as well, under the excuse of friendly competition between the two kingdoms.

Rong Yuan stood at the side laughing, not showing the slightest intention to intervene. He had to treat Pan Yue with respect but had no obligation to clean up the mess that he had made for himself. If Pan Yue stirred up trouble for himself, he had to deal with the consequences on his own.

“Tch, what’s the meaning of this? Are you using numbers to take advantage of me? I’ll just let you know that I don’t plan to accept any of your challenges. You can just take it as my loss,” Pan Yue retorted, looking especially laidback. His refusal to accept any challenges made it such that the students who had already prepared to fight him could only aim their fists at the wall, while cursing him in their hearts.

As a prince of the North Qiu Kingdom that was an exchange student in another country, he represented his own nation. Wasn’t he afraid of sullying the reputation of his own country?

A look of contempt flashed across Rong Yuan’s face, but soon after, he started.

Why would a strong kingdom like the North Qiu Kingdom send someone as useless as Pan Yue here as an exchange student? There could only be two reasons for this.

The first possibility was that Pan Yue was not popular within the court back in North Qiu, and he was being sent here as a pawn.

However, based on the intelligence he received from spies, even though Pan Yue had a nasty personality, he was doted on by the North Qiu King. Given this, there was no way anyone could send him here as a pawn.

That left the second possibility, that Pan Yue was hiding his real abilities and intentions!

Considering this, Rong Yuan suddenly felt like things had become a lot more serious.

Although sending a prince as an exchange student was quite normal, sending one that was so deliberately hiding his abilities and intentions over meant that something was brewing.

Meanwhile, Pan Yue seemed to have found something new that caught his interest. Pointing at Gu Lingzhi, he suddenly shouted in surprise, “Huh, you don’t have a single trace of damage on you! Could it be that you’ve cheated?”

Not giving Gu Lingzhi a chance to reply, Rong Yuan answered for her, “Based on my fiancée’s abilities, is there any need for her to cheat?”

Rong Yuan strongly emphasized the words “my fiancée”, as though trying to warn Pan Yue not to have any designs on her.

He had noticed Pan Yue’s gaze on Gu Lingzhi throughout the whole lesson.

“Whoa, it seems that the future Princess Consort is really something. No wonder you annulled your previous engagement and kicked Lady Tianfeng out of the house.”

Instantly, Rong Yuan’s expression darkened. It was obvious that Pan Yue was trying to create discord between him and Gu Lingzhi.

Unexpectedly, however, Gu Lingzhi stood on his side this time. With a somewhat shy expression on her face, she said, “The Fifth Prince has misunderstood. His Highness had annulled his engagement with Lady Tianfeng because the other party had some issues with her moral character. Did you not hear? Just two months ago, because of her selfish personal reasons, she sent hundreds of her clan members to their death. Back when His Highness annulled their engagement, it was because he was afraid she would use the authority to do even worse things, so he immediately drew a clear line between the both of them.”

Gu Lingzhi even sounded aggrieved as she explained this, and she successfully handed all blame to Tianfeng Wei.

“Is that how it is? I didn’t hear of it,” Pan Yue replied, shrugging his shoulder. However, he did not give up and stared at her, asking, “I wonder if Lady Gu would like to visit the North Qiu Kingdom as my guest? My North Qiu Kingdom is many times bigger than the Xia Kingdom, with much better scenery as well. I’m sure you will be impressed by it and fall in love with the place…”