The news of Zhang Xian"s death had not only caused a huge uproar in the Martial Arts Academy, but it also became the biggest piece of gossip in the entire River County. Like a bomb, this news had exploded into the skies of River County.
“Hey, dude, have you heard? In the Martial Arts Academy, a Humble Cla.s.s martial art student killed another student from the Prominent Zhang family,” Stranger A said.
“Everyone has two ears, who has not heard about it? I say, do you know the details of this matter?” Stranger B said boastfully.
“I have not heard anything about it, have you?” Stranger A asked him with a humble att.i.tude.
"This is a complicated matter. You’ll have to buy me a drink, and I will talk slowly." Stranger B maintained his arrogant att.i.tude.
“Ok, fine. Let’s go drink at the “Little Xuan.”
…
There were a lot of gossips happening in the streets. Most of them talked about the same thing, about how Qin Wushuang had taken revenge upon the child of the Prominent Zhang family after training very hard. And about how he had waited for opportunities and had finally succeeded. It showcased the determination of a Humble Cla.s.s child.
Compared to the gossips in the street, the Prominent Zhang family, as the "direct victim," had an entirely different att.i.tude. They insisted that the death of Zhang Xian was not due to his lack of strength, but because he had been murdered.
With the child of the Venerable Da Xi family as the witness, they did not dare to dispute the claims of this "duel." Therefore, the word "murder" was a vague description. It could be that he was “murdered” in the fight or in a personal vendetta.
Zhang Maorui was extremely depressed over his son"s death. To put it bluntly, it was the Wealthy Cla.s.s Xu family that had wanted the Qin family"s large inheritance. As the Prominent Cla.s.s, they were only an errand boy for the Xu family.
However, he could not vent his anger at the Wealthy Cla.s.s Xu family. Thus, he could only direct his hatred toward the Humble Qin family.
The Xu family had not ignored the matter of Zhang Xian’s death entirely. They had sent one of their elders to comfort the Zhang family and carefully investigated Zhang Xian"s wounds.
Qin Wushuang had been very clever in his attacks; he had not used all of his strength. At first, he had sent out a palm attack to push Zhang Xian to the sky using the method of power against power instead of his inner strength. The dozens of punches that led to Zhang Xian’s death came from the technique , and he had reduced the power to around twenty to thirty percent.
This way, he made it appear as if Zhang Xian’s death had been caused by a simple martial art student.
“Patriarch Maorui, the fatality resulted from a dozen lethal punches to the head. This kid of the Qin family was vicious, he was going after Zhang Xian’s life. It seemed that one or two punches were not enough to kill him. From this wound, he must have been hit thirteen or fourteen times!"
Elder Yue, who was sent by the Xu family sighed after he had checked the wounds.
Zhang Maorui shook his head painfully: "This kid of the Qin family... There was such a large difference between his strength and my son"s from the last duel a few months ago. He could not have advanced at such speed in a few months to the point where my Xian’er had no power to resist.”
"I’ve also asked the boy, Xu Ting. From his description, he had no helper at that time. And he did mention that the kid of the Qin family had ma.s.sively increased his strength. Patriarch Maorui, this was an accident. My family"s patriarch asked me to pa.s.s on a few word: “Please don"t let this matter fracture the relations.h.i.+p between our two families."
After Zhang Maorui heard Elder Yue"s words, he could only break his own teeth and swallow them into his stomach. With a miserable tone, he said: “This was all the Humble Cla.s.s Qin family’s fault. I understand. They are the ones responsible for this.”
Elder Yue nodded expressionlessly, and spoke again: "My family"s patriarch means to postpone the revenge because this is a complicated matter.”
“Why?” Zhang Maorui showed a confused expression.
"Because the child of the Venerable Da Xi family came forward as a witness!" As the muscles on the older Yue"s face slightly twitched, he said with a cautious tone, "No one knows if the Qin family have sucked up to the Venerable Da Xi family. Thus, if you want to move, you must investigate this matter thoroughly.”
Zhang Maorui was quite unhappy, and he lightly answered with a single word: "Oh." In his heart, he was furious. Thus, he clenched his teeth.
Elder Yue reminded him: “Patriarch Maorui, it"s only a little over three years until that “Family Cla.s.s Evaluation.” If we properly prepare, we can easily make the Qin family lose their Humble Cla.s.s seat. How difficult would it be, by that time, to render their family dest.i.tute and homeless?
Three years… If it must be this way, then they would have to wait for another three years!
Beneath his façade, Zhang Maorui was heartbroken. It was apparent that he was not satisfied letting the Qin family live for one more day!
……
In the castle of the Venerable Da Xi family, Da Xi Yang had also been summoned by his father, Da Xi Heng, to explain the current situation.
Da Xi Yang informed his father of what he had witnessed. After a moment of silence, Da Xi Heng, the family patriarch of the Da Xi, sighed: “The son of the Qin family is remarkable. He bided himself for a very long time and carefully waited to carry out his powerful counterattack. This way, those powerhouses that had planned to rob the Qin family will find things difficult.”
“Why will they find things difficult? The Humble Cla.s.s Qin does not have much power. The fact that Qin Wushuang had killed Zhang Xian was only because of a quarrel between martial art students. This matter would not change much of overall situation.” After all, Da Xi Yang was too young. He could not grasp the general situation as well as his father.
"Hehe, if you had not come forward as a witness, then they, of course, would not have found things difficult. However, the situation changed as soon as you came forward." Da Xi Heng sighed.
Da Xi Yang pursed his lips and thought for a while. Then, he understood and laughed: “This way, it looked like the Qin family borrowed my power when I went out and spoke the truth?”
“That’s right. Right now, the Xu family and others are most likely quite suspicious that the Qin family might have close ties with us.” Da Xi Heng laughed.
“Oh? Then what should we do? Should we emphasize our innocence and distance ourselves from the Qin family?” Da Xi Yang’s initial intention had only been to act as a witness and speak the truth.
Da Xi Heng shook his head and leisurely said: “Distance ourselves? Once we sever the relations.h.i.+p between the Qin family and us, the Venerable Da Xi family will be on the same level as them. It will be as if nothing had happened. There is no need for us to be so accommodating to those aristocrats like the Zhang family.”
To approach the lower-cla.s.s aristocrats and to explain that the matter had nothing to do with them? There was no need; it would be a loss of their social status.
Da Xi Yang nodded his head meaningfully: "That is also good. Let"s see to it that it creates a good relations.h.i.+p with the Qin family. I saw that the son of the Qin family had shown a huge change. It is possible that the Qin family will prosper with him as the leader. I heard that the Qin family has a good reputation in Eastwood Town. The civilians love them."
"Because of their good reputation, it led to their decline in power, generation after generation. In Bai Yue Country, it"s impossible to protect them and be well-regarded at the same time. Survival is only possible if you keep a clear head and judgment while time flows! Yang’er, you must remember this point.” Da Xi Heng spoke with a sincere and earnest tone.
Da Xi Yang had always admired his father like an idol. Naturally, he accepted all his warm words when his father delivered him instructions.
"Ok, you can go for now. Don"t get involved with the matters in the Martial Arts Academy. You need to continue to maintain your superior status.”
“Yes.” Da Xi Yang nodded then asked again: “Father, is there news of Big Brother?”
Da Xi Heng shook his head grimly: “Your big brother… For now, he cannot accept that matter. Don’t worry about him. Your big brother is mature; he will come to his senses.”
“Big Brother…” After Da Xi Yang softly said these words, he walked outside.
……
As the sun set in the west, Qin Wushuang had already run five laps outside of River County. The moment he arrived at the gate, he saw a martial art student dressed in blue. With a leisurely expression, he crossed his hands over his chest and stared at Qin Wushuang with a smile.
“I heard that you are going to leave the Martial Arts Academy?” Da Xi Yang spoke first.
“Just leaving temporarily.”
“Can you not stay?” Da Xi Yang asked again.
“Why?” Qin Wushuang was stunned.
“There hasn’t been anyone interesting appearing at River Martial Arts Academy for a very long time. Finally, you are here. If you left, wouldn"t the days become incredibly boring?" Da Xi Yang gave a long sigh.
"What? I never imagined that someone in the academy thinks that I am interesting. This is rare! I am delighted to hear these words from you, Da Xi Yang.
“Do you have to leave?”
"It"s rare that you want me to stay. I will be back after three years. I hope at that time, I can still talk to you freely.”
Da Xi Yang sighed because he knew that Qin Wushuang was determined to leave. He muttered: "You concealed yourself deeply and I did not realize it at all. After spending so many years at the academy together, it was only until recently that I realized that so many talented individuals were hiding next to me. Did you deliberately allow yourself to suffer when you dueled with Zhang Xian the first time?”
Qin Wushuang did not know whether to laugh or cry. Injuring himself hadn’t been some masterful plan. Would that even be an appropriate way to trick others? With an injury to himself? His head had been scooped open with a ma.s.sive wound. How could it be called a method for deliberately injuring himself? How would it be any different from suicide?
Inwardly, he laughed bitterly. However, he coped with it as he said: “The world is a dangerous place. I had no choice.”
“Ok then, I am sure we’ll meet again someday.” Da Xi Yang displayed a gentle smile, but then he said: "Maybe one day we will appear in the center of a much larger stage, right?"
“Possibly,” Qin Wushuang lightly answered. Suddenly, he remembered something and added, “Thank you.”
"Thank me? For what? I just don"t want others to think that there was no decent man brave enough to a.s.sume the responsibility in River Academy.”
Qin Wushuang laughed: “I am not thanking you for being my witness. I am thanking you for not exposing me that night.”
"What? That evening, you knew I was there?" Da Xi Yang was stunned, he asked: "Then why did you say I was not present when you were outside the door?"
“I didn"t want to put you in an awkward situation. You didn"t expose me, so I would, of course, not drag you in.”
When Da Xi Yang remembered that night"s incident, he also laughed: "The speed and actions of your counterattack were quite sharp and decisive! When I thought about how Xu Ting looked as if he had seen a ghost, I wanted to laugh out loud inside the dorm."
"Luckily you did not laugh. Or else, Xu Ting and his people would have suspected you were the guilty party.”
Da Xi Yang shook his hand and said with a carefree expression: "The truth is, they already suspect it was me. They are just too scared to say it."
Only this tone, this manner, and this gesture can be called the temperament of an upper-cla.s.s aristocrat! He never put the reactions of the Wealthy Xu family in his heart!
Da Xi Yang’s action had taught Qin Wushuang a motivating lesson regarding how the high and the powerful people earned their respect!