Joint training is a once-in-month activity where both boys and girls train together under the direct supervision of the Lord of Sword.
This training session took place either in the lake of the Academy aptly called the Academy Lake or its sprawling forest, once again, aptly named the Forest of Darkness.
Many students take this Joint Training session very seriously; even the teaching staff got engrossed in their students' competitive spirit and can't help but chime in as well.
Their form of participation is, of course, gambling.
Which students and class can win the prize, who will be beaten to half-death, who will be humiliated publicly and weirdly enough, who will trip on their own feet the most.
However, the popular betting is who will win the prize. Each semester has their favorite, of course semester five will be dominated by Wu Yincang.
Semester four with Hu Mei or Wu Lixian.
Semester three with Loong tin and Sui Jii.
Semester two is torn between Wu Nanming or Fu Tilung.
And Semester One is between Wu Chen and Gao len.
"3 Silver for Wu Yincang" A dorm staff called out, huddling near the rest of the staff in the teacher cafeteria.
Presenting his wooden plaque as a sign that he locks his bet to Wu Yincang winning the competition.
"Why not go all out? Wu Yincang is set to win the Semester five students anyway"
A particularly young male said, his voice in deep curiosity as he eyed at the minimal silver placed on Wu Yincang's name.
"Last month I lost 30 Silver because Wu Yincang decided not to participate in the competition"
The dorm staff replied, his face turned sour as he recalled the silver he lost that day.
30 Silver, that is about 5 taels of silver coins. That much money can feed an entire village for 3 months.
Looking around, the young male can definitely see that many teacher and instructor is playing it safe by betting small in Wu Yincang's name.
He himself planned to put all 10 Silver of his salary last month on Wu Yincang, but looking at the things differently, he hesitates.
Before settling on Wu Yincang for 2 Silvers.
"I-I'll do 2 Silvers for Wu Yincang!"
He presented his plaque to the betting audit, he took it without any expression and write the young man's name on a piece of paper presumably used to track whoever has bet on who.
"Hoammm… What's with this commotion?"
A man with a rough outlook and a stubbled face said, his eyes half-lid with a bit of tears from yawning, this and his drooping brows and unkempt hair makes him look like a hobo.
In fact, that was his name, Hobo Teacher Pulao.
"Finally got out of bed?"
The Audit casually remarks.
"…Surprisingly…"
Pulao voice was weak, and unenergetic, as if this day held no significant for him.
He finally clicks his finger as he sees countless plaques as well as a few silver coins on top of it, this day is the Joint Training session.
"You skipping this one too?"
The Audit asks, inscribing a few more names but he paused when he said those words, looking at Pulao wholeheartedly. Expecting a 'no' anyway but who knows?
"Nah, I have too much money…"
Pulao pulls out 2 Taels of silver. About 12 worth of coins if melted and shaped back.
"Woah!"
The young man blurted out, normally you would pull out a Cash String with about 1000 copper coins, but no, this Homeless looking man casually strolls around with 2 Taels of silver and spending on it like it's no big deal.
"Who will you bet on?"
"…"
Pulao looks at the list of names as well as their probability of winning. Seeing a particularly beautiful name, he decided to bet on it.
"…Wu Nanming, the Sixth Prince"
Nanming means Southern Brightness, literally at least, but it has a historical backdrop as well.
During the reign of the Ming, that lasted about 3 years, they were forced to hunker down in the South of Hazhui away from the Hordes of Nightmare of the Khanate Dynasty.
This defensive war by them is often called Southern Foolishness, but for the South, it means Southern Bravery. To brave death and holding them at bay until the rest of Hazhui banded together to defeat the Khanate.
Nanming reminisces of that bravery and loyalty, perhaps the same story might manifest itself inside the Sixth Prince, after all, name carry prayer.
And with that, he decided…
"All in, Wu Nanming…"
To go all in, drawing extreme reaction from the teaching staff as well as passerby. Astonished and awe stricken by the amount of money spent on someone who has a 0.13% chance of winning.
"I-I go all in on Fu Tilung!"
"Me too!"
"Take my silver! Quickly!"
The moment Pulao bet goes in, many people started betting against Wu Nanming. Its practically free money anyway.
There is a near 100% guarantee that Fu Tilung will win, and the portion of that 2 Taels of Silver will flow into the hands of the winner.
.
.
.
In Wu Lixian Courtyard, both her and Nanming are currently sparring with fist.
Both are equally dominating now, even though no energy or technique is involved. If Wu Lixian delivers a blow, she receives one. The same can be said for Nanming.
Trading blow after blow, both sides show no sign of fatigue, on the contrary, their fighting spirit rise in tandem with how long they have sparred.
Which is about 15 minutes currently.
"Don't they get tired?"
Ji Mei remarks as she chews on an apple she picked up from a tree earlier.
In a sense she knew that Wu Lixian had practically bottomless stamina due to her Tarnished River Body quite literally boiling her own blood to rejuvenate and regenerate her. Sort of like a boiler.
Which means the hotter and sweatier she is, the stronger she becomes. And it's just a matter of time before she completely overpowers the other side.
Called the Tarnished Boiler, uncreative in a way but evocative enough.
"Boss has finally found her equal, Prince Wu Nanming is as unstoppable as she is"
Rin said, though her face remains still, she can't help but feel exhausted just watching them spar and spar again to no end.
Wu Lixian is a battle beast; a term she coined to refers to those who will gladly die in a battle if it means that they would enjoy it. Prince Wu Nanming exudes the same battle crazed expression in his body language.
Whenever he fights, his entire body relaxes, letting its muscle coil and tighten by itself. His step also becomes light yet resolute, and his head becomes as still as a rock in permafrost with how unflinching it becomes.
"Haha! Your punch grew stronger! Ugh"
Wu Lixian shouts of cheerfulness exude from within her, before her stomach got punched by Nanming.
"Big sis gets tougher as well. Hup"
Nanming reciprocates her praise only to get jab at his ribs.
"It's about time, right?"
Rin said, counting the time from the height of the sun. 5 minutes from now the Joint Training session will begin.
"Boss, 5 minutes before the Joint Training begins!"
Ji Mei shouts caused both Wu Lixian and Wu Nanming to stop beating each other and regulate their breath, assessing the damage each other has done to their own body before they walk towards both Ji Mei and Rin.
"That's a new record, right? 16 minutes of straight up sparring. Damn I love having a tough lil bro!"
Wu Lixian smirks, baring her teeth as she circles her arm around Nanming and ruffled his soft white hair.
Rin pouts slightly at Wu Lixian treatment towards Nanming but decided not to voice her jealousy out.
"Today is Joint Training, right?"
Nanming ask, his hair is still ruffled by Wu Lixian rough and callused hand.
"That's right! Don't tell me you don't know how they work"
"…"
That silence is basically a confirmation, but rather than sighing at Nanming ignorance, Wu Lixian smiles brightly as she stops brushing his hair.
"Alright, here's how it works…"
Wu Lixian began to explain with energetic voice; both her hands were on her hips.
"It's basically a competition in either martial arts or theorem. You'll take the martial arts competition, right?"
"…"
Nanming didn't nod or agree with her prediction, causing Wu Lixian to grow anxious. She hopes that her ugly thoughts will not come to be a reality.
"I'm going to take the theorem test"
"…"
This time, it was Wu Lixian that stayed silent, rubbing her temple and closing her eyes for a second, both Ji Mei and Rin were surprised too as both of their eyes shot wide open.
Why? With his strength, he can easily win the competition.
"…Why?"
Wu Lixian demand answer, her chin facing upward and looking down on Nanming with a look of contempt.
"There is no point in me participating in something I'm good at if I want to improve"
Nanming bluntly answers, his purple eyes neutral, so does his lips that stay parted away ever so slightly due to how plump they are.
Wu Lixian head grew hotter, not from her foundation activating, but due to her anger rising like a boiling tea pot. Steam can even be seen emanating from her forehead.
'What I'm good at?' how fucking arrogant for him to utter that words, when she herself must breaks her bone and push her body to its utter fucking limit to be as strong as she is.
Blessed is he, gifted by immense power. Blessed is he, who has body that could regenerate faster than she is. Blessed he is, to be gifted with a body suitable for combat.
And he dares to say he's good at fighting? Preposterous, his stance is all a mess, his attack has no weight other than how much power he gathered into his fist, his technique is non-existent and he's good at fighting?
All he had for him is that constitution of his, just a power and no substance.
Sensing her boiling wrath, Ji Mei was first to act as she moves fast enough to stop Wu Lixian slap mere inches away from Nanming.
The force and intent put on that slap is enough for Nanming to instantly go on full alert, his hair was blown away by the sheer air being displaced by the mere movement of her hands.
Nanming looks up, seeing her sister's face twisting. Her eyes bent upward, her iris quivering and her jaw trembles as it contorts its muscles and her brows tightening towards the center.
She is angry, but why?
"…You"
Her voice and the brink of exploding, threatening to spill all her thoughts in the form of words that hurt.
'You have all that talent, and you decided to sink? To not use it?'
'Don't you know how lucky you are? To have that much talent? To have that much potential?'
'You don't know the real struggle of those who climb up with sheer effort, what do you know?'
'What do you fucking know?'
Those hurtful words held up by whatever conscience she had left holding the words back in her throat, lodging it in place.
"Lixian…"
Ji Mei words pull Wu Lixian back from her anger, she finally sensed the trembling hands that holds her own.
Ji Mei hand in dark purple, holding her full-powered slap must've hurt Ji Mei hand in turn. Wu Lixian instantly eased her own hands; Ji Mei in turn, withdrawn her own hand and clutched the bruises, biting her own lips to stifle the sizzling hand.
Nanming voice then blurted out
"What happ—"
"Shut the fuck up…"
Yet his voice was shut down by Wu Lixian seething deep words. Nanming flinched, looking at her sister's face.
This time, whatever expression she made was obscured by the intense light backdropping on her face, but he can tell that it's not a pleasant one.
"…"
Without muttering any words, she grabs Ji Mei hand that didn't hurt and walk away with Ji Mei in tow.
"Let's go Rin…"
Wu Lixian said in the same voice, not waiting for Rin to follow her as she hastens her own pace.
Rin was flabbergasted at first, she turned her head to regards Nanming that is still stunned in the courtyard before she runs to catch up with Wu Lixian.
Nanming was left alone, confused and clueless as to what had happened.
He turned his gaze downward, seeing 3 tiny droplets. It's not raining, and it's not his, did big sister cry?
But why?
Nanming turned his head once more towards the fleeting figure of his sister, her strides so fast at its pace that it looks like she is running.
She must've been mad, maybe because of him. But he doesn't know why.
Why
In the end, his hopes of befriending his sister went up in flames. And he's the one who burned it down.
.
.
.
Near the girl's dorm complex is a beautiful park planted by the Lord of Bloom Akiri Yanchen.
The vibrant flowers decorating the park all bloom no matter the season and condition, even if this field is burnt, the park will remain preserved.
This is because this flower is procured from the Nether Realm itself, no one knows how the Lord of Bloom managed to obtain them let alone go there in the first place, to this day, the mystery of the park shrouded the beauty of its scene.
And in such park, two individuals meet up. Gu Tian and Wu Chen.
They met by chance, and since it will be quite some time until the Joint Training started, they figure it will be fine to spend some time together. They did plan on doing this anyway
"So, how have you been?"
Wu Chen opens a conversation, it's nothing much, just the standard conversation starter akin to the likes of 'how's the weather today'.
"Hmm? I'm fine…"
And Gu Tian replied curtly, casting her gaze downward to observe the ants collum moving about behind her feet.
"I see…"
And just like that, silence befall both, awkwardness permeates as both sides don't want to speak first. Wu Chen then trained his gaze upward, looking at the clear blue sky with an evident of grey clouds rolling slowly towards them.
"Soo, what competition will you participate in?"
Gu Tian decided to open another conversation this time, facing her head towards Wu Chen and regarding him.
"Martial Arts of course, but I heard Nanming takes the theorem competition"
Gu Tian mouth formed an O of astonishment, her brows arching upwards as she replied.
"Really! Well, isn't that surprising, I was sure that he will win very easily if he participates in the Martial Arts competition"
She said, now her voice is as energetic as she used to be, and with the atmosphere warming up, so too, are their interactions.
"So Nanming is considered a Second Semester, that means in our semester its either you or Wu Yuen that'll win"
Gu Tian speculates, holding her chin as she mulling about the chances of who would win. But then she jabbed Chen's shoulder lightly, causing him to look surprised.
"Well… I think I'm just going to strive for the runner-up position"
Wu Chen smiles lightly as he wavered his gaze downward; between him and Wu Yuen, he will win. If he can resort to trickery and utilize his Tarnished Gathering to its fullest effect.
However, using technique in the Competition is prohibited, and there is no way he can win against Wu Yuen sheer martial skill.
"…No!"
Gu Tian shouts, she then grabs Chen shoulders and shook him up back and forth.
"You should strive for the first place! What's with the self-defeating attitude!"
Her voice pitched up in its intonation, her cheeks puffed up as frustration builds up inside her.
But Wu Chen finds this appearance cute, no, how foolish of him to think like that.
"I'm just being realistic…"
"That doesn't mean you should not dream!"
Gu Tian then stand up, points her fingers at Chen and demand him with a stern voice.
"Just because there is no chance doesn't mean there is no way! You can make your own path even if there is none!"
Her words etched itself into Chen heart, a wise word unbefitting of her and yet, he couldn't help but smiles.
"Hahaha"
Smiles and laugh, Wu Chen eyes flutters shut as his broad smile taking over his face.
"W-what?"
Gu Tian flustered, averting her gaze from the smiling Wu Chen, the sight alone makes her heart bloom with flowers, so annoying, how can he cause her to act like this?
"Nothing-nothing"
Wu Chen wipes the tear off his face that resulted from his intense laughing, when was the last time he could laugh this much? Maybe hearing her words has inadvertently caused a part of his mask to crack, for the better or for worse.
But Wu Chen didn't care; in fact, he is delighted that only Gu Tian can crack him like this.
Wu Chen then stood up and puffed his own chest, and with that, he placed his hand to bang on his chest.
"Of course, I'll try my hardest"
A newfound motivation and dedication burn Wu Chen spirits up.