Chapter Thirty-Five: The Elder

The people from the two towns began to shove and jostle one another, leaving Chen Bo speechless. The whole scene reminded him of squabbling middle schoolers—first you shove me, then I shove you, and before long, the real fight begins!

Sure enough, just as he expected, whether from the pain of being pushed or something else, someone from Dingjia Town suddenly raised a fist and threw a punch. Standing in front of him was a prodigy from the Qin family, who, caught off guard, took the blow squarely to his face, stunned and knocked flat on his back.

“They're fighting! Hit them!” On the Yan Town side, Chen Long saw someone go down and shouted, kicking the Ding family youth who had thrown the punch, sending him sprawling as well.

And so the scuffle erupted into a full-blown melee with more than a dozen participants. Fortunately, everyone retained some sense of restraint, aware they were on the grounds of Tianyang Academy; no one used lethal moves, and swords and sabers had been tossed aside.

It was a free-for-all of fists and feet. One would go for the eyes, another would aim a kick below the belt. The girls fought with equal ferocity, yanking hair and scratching faces with their nails. In no time, a few people were left with bald patches and faces marred with bloody claw marks.

“Originally, I wasn’t planning to get involved,” Chen Bo narrated, training his camera on the brawl with relish, “but who could have guessed the lot from Dingjia Town would start hurling insults at me too! Well, dear viewers, you’ve never seen your host in a fight, have you? Today’s your lucky day. Back in the day, I was known as the Prince of the Brick!”

“Ha! Shameless host,” came a comment.

“Rewarding the host with 323 gold coins—where’s your brick, host?”

“I’m the Black Society, rewarding the host with 888 coins. I've got a set for a group brawl—want to buy? A brick, a club, and some Yunnan Baiyao medicine.”

“What’s Yunnan Baiyao got to do with this?”

“In case someone hurts the host, he can patch himself up and save a trip to the clinic.”

“Damn, makes sense!”

Chen Bo picked up a bluish brick from the ground, but put it back—this one was too big, and a careless swing might be fatal.

His gaze then landed on the weapons discarded on the ground. Not that he wanted to wield swords or blades, but rather, he had his eye on their scabbards.

With a sly grin, he crept over, quickly gathering up all the swords and sabers and, in a flash, stashed them in his system’s storage space. Not a soul noticed what Chen Bo had done.

He then pulled out a particular sword scabbard, crafted from hardwood with an inner lining of iron and an exterior wrapped in gold and silver—luxurious indeed. This belonged to one of Dingjia Town’s prodigies. Rumor had it that Dingjia Town’s commerce was more prosperous than Yan Town’s, and now, seeing this, the claim rang true.

While the fight remained deadlocked, Chen Bo rushed forward and brought the scabbard down hard on the back of a Dingjia Town prodigy’s head. The youth’s senses were sharp, for he spun around in time to see what was coming, which only made Chen Bo swing harder out of reflex.

He saw a familiar object hurtling toward him—wasn’t that his own sword scabbard? How had it ended up in the hands of someone from Yan Town? The thought barely formed when, with a dull thud, Chen Bo’s scabbard struck him squarely on the forehead. The force split the skin, blood streamed down his face, and his mind went blank as he dropped with a scream.

Just as Chen Bo was about to search for his next target, he heard a dozen sharp whooshes, followed by as many cries of pain.

Luckily, sensing danger, Chen Bo dove to the ground just in time to avoid getting hit. Looking up, he saw that everyone from both Yan Town and Dingjia Town was clutching their stomachs in agony, with small stones scattered across the ground.

Chen Bo could imagine it: a master within Tianyang Academy, infuriated by the brawl, had kicked a pile of stones that struck everyone squarely in the abdomen.

Only he had managed to dodge, thanks to his alertness.

As he was congratulating himself, footsteps and angry shouts suddenly rang out: “Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous! You little brats dare to brawl on academy grounds? You’re lucky I haven’t caught you before—today I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget!”

An old man strode over, and to Chen Bo’s shock, each step seemed to cover a dozen paces; in less than two breaths, he had reached their group.

“Who the hell are you, old man? What business is it of yours if I’m fighting?” One of the Dingjia Town youths, still seething with anger, hurled abuse without thinking.

Chen Bo was startled—what nerve! This elder was clearly from Tianyang Academy, and by the look of his strength and bearing, he far outranked even Zhao Qing and the others, likely a senior figure in the academy.

He hadn’t expected someone more reckless than Chen Long. Did everyone in this world focus solely on getting stronger and forget to develop a little common sense?

The old man’s beard bristled with anger. With a flicker, he appeared next to the Dingjia Town prodigy, grabbed him by the collar, and, despite the youth’s terrified screams, tossed him lightly away.

He really did throw him—at least a hundred yards into the air. After a moment, there was a faint splash, mingled with cries for help.

Dusting off his hands, the old man turned his baleful gaze on the rest. “Anything to say for yourselves?”

At this, the dozen or so students shook their heads frantically like rattles. This old man’s power was terrifying—if he threw them like that, they’d be lucky to survive at all.

“Who started this fight? Step forward! Do you take the academy’s rules for nothing?”

“Well?” he barked. “Cat got your tongues? Weren’t you all so tough just now? Why not go fight some primal beasts instead?”

As he spoke, he habitually rubbed his fingers together.

Chen Bo’s eyes lit up—there was an opportunity here.

He reached into his bag, pretending to rummage, while secretly pulling valuable items from his system space—prime stones, and, over the past few days, various oddities he’d won from raffles. Of course, some of these “oddities” were only strange to the people of this world.

“Esteemed elder, we’ve learned our lesson,” Chen Bo said, wearing a look of heartfelt remorse. “Here is a token of my sincerity, a small donation to the academy’s charitable causes. Please accept it.”

Ah, this boy knows how things work! Charity? What a clever excuse—why hadn’t he thought of that before? Thick-skinned, sly, and ruthless—this one had it all.

The old man’s white brows lifted as he glanced at the bloodstained scabbard on the ground, but his attention was quickly drawn to the items in Chen Bo’s hands.

What were these things? They looked quite pretty—perhaps hair ornaments for girls? He could take them home for his daughter. And this bottle—he couldn’t make out the writing, but it looked so clean and clear, unlikely to be wine. Was it water? But why would he gift something useless? Perhaps there was more to it than met the eye. This boy certainly carried some valuable things…