Beat to Submit

Di Lan did a step forward, forcing the other youths. They looked at each other for a moment, then half of them gritted their teeth while the other half roared angrily, all of them swarming towards Di Lan.

Di Lan dodged about while striking at the same time. Though his cultivation base was low, but his realm was still there; his mind was working like crazy yet his heart was cool as ice, his movements quick and precise.

Thump, thump…

After a few breaths, bodies fell down onto the ground again.

"It's too vicious! Too terrible!"

"They're not going to die, are they?"

There were still a few young girls left behind; they did not rush forward. Their eyes were open wide, and after seeing what had happened so far their bodies trembled more and more.

Fang Yuan swept his gaze to them, and their faces turned pale as they quickly waved their hands and retreated. "No, don't come over. We'll surrender, we'll surrender the stones!"

After Di Lan received a few pieces of spirit stones, he gestured like a gentleman would, letting them go. They stumbled out of the academy gateway, while in succession several students came over.

To leave the academy, this gateway was the only route. With Di Lan blocking this path, he would be able to block out all the students.

"Damn, what's going on?!" The new wave of students stared in amazement.

"Isn't that Mu Mo Chen?" Mu Shi Cheng stared at the unconscious Mo Chen on the floor, his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

When Di Lan opened his mouth and spoke, the youngsters were instantly angered and they attacked him, then they fell.

"Elder sir, we're just going to keep watching all of this and not stop them? What if someone loses their life, how are we going to salvage the matter?" The guards were worried.

Some of the guards were indignant, saying, "This Di Lan has too much guts. He would actually dare to extort his classmates at the academy school gates under our eyelids. This is acting with utter disregard of the law and discipline! As long as sir gives the command, we subordinates will take away this kid."

The violent matter of Di Lan blocking the gateway and openly extorting his classmates had long attracted attention since the beginning. But mortal guards had no right to punish the students, so they could only go first to the academy elder and report.

When the academy elder heard the news, he did not immediately command for them to stop it. Instead he went up the pavilion and observed from afar.

"Looks like this child has battle talent." The longer the academy elder watched the more interested he felt.

Di Lan's use of the fangblade today had already caused some uncertainty in the elder. Right now, he watched as Di Lan with his strength alone, making an enemy out of the entire batch of students, bearing a sort of fluid battle style of dominance. With this, the doubts in his heart were cleared.

In this world, there were those who were particularly keen and sharp towards battles; these were hidden gifts. They were good at fighting, and they loved battles. In the battles they were often inspired, and always created surprising and even unbelievable accomplishments.

"Ah, he's a natural battle Spirit Master. Pity, his talent is only mortal grade; in the end, he just lacks one step of a grade." The academy elder heaved a sigh.

"Sir, are you not going to stop this farce? Letting him go on with this nonsense, I'm afraid the consequences wouldn't be too good." The guards beside him had worried expressions on their faces.

"Why stop it?" The academy elder lifted his eyebrows and laughed. He lifted a finger and pointed it at Di Lan who was far away and said, "This young man has taken control of the entire situation. Look at all those youths on the ground, which one of them is actually heavily injured? None! Even if they were badly hurt, so what? Are you saying that our academy's treatment Spirit Masters won't be able to cure this sort of traumatic wound?"

"But sir elder, that child is just too arrogant. He blocked the entrance; this is obviously not acknowledging our existence as guards! Being ignored isn't the main problem though, the important matter is how the clan will think of our academy. To actually allow a small petty mortal grade student make a fuss in the academy and not stop it. If word goes out, we're afraid this might affect your reputation, sir elder." The guard squinted as he said this.

"Hmph, in reality is that because you all were disregarded by the boy, so your own dignity feels challenged?" The academy elder was not too happy. He sneered and shot a gaze as sharp as a sword edge at the guards. They all lowered their heads, all of them disagreeing.

"What's wrong with fighting? As long as lives are not lost, it will stir up the competitive side of the students and temper their will to fight. To stop this kind of fight is to stifle the student's fighting passion! Was there no fighting in the past batches? Every batch had their own battles, and it happened very often. The only difference was that it usually happened in the latter half of the year when the students had already mastered some means of fighting. With strength they itched to fight, and at the same time it is an aggressive age. Why didn't you stop those people back then?" The academy elder questioned in a cold voice.

"Maybe it was because the fights in the previous years were all single battles, there were rarely huge scale fighting like this one. But this Di Lan is really good at creating a disturbance!" The chief of the guards replied.

"No, no, no." The academy elder shook his head, "That was because you all did not dare to stop it. Because after half a year, a Spirit Master will have the ability to fight beyond a mortal's strength, and with your petty mortal bodies, how are you supposed to stop it? Right now you all want to stop Di Lan, perhaps it is because he just started cultivating, so he doesn't have enough power. It's also because you feel that he ignored your existence and offended your dignity. But you must all remember, these students all bear the surname of Mu! They are my Mu clan's clan members, your masters! Even if they are still of young age, no matter how weak, they are still your masters!"

The elder's tone had turned sharply.

"Your surnames are not Mu, what is your worth? Because of your loyalty, you were all given the position of guards, rewarding you with some sweet benefits. But in reality, you are still slaves. Don't ever forget that! A slave dare give preposterous opinions of their masters, caring about the matters of their masters?" The elder's face was dark like water.

"I wouldn't dare! We wouldn't dare!"

The guards were ashen-faced as they kneeled down to the ground, spouting nonstop. The academy elder gave a cold snort and pointed at the chief guard who had just called Di Lan a person good at creating disturbances. "You gave an outrageous comment on your master. You are relieved of your position."

After a while, the elder said to the others, "After half a month, there will be a re-examination to determine the new chief."

The other guards immediately had eyes that shone, their hearts pumping with enthusiasm.

"The position of chief of the guard! Every month I'll be able to receive a spirit stone more!"

"To be able to become the chief is to become a man above men. Aside from the masters, I dare to see who else would show displeasure at me?"

"If I became the chief, how cool that would be…"

"Alright, what are you all pestling here for? Get downstairs and wait for the battle to end, then sweep the field!" The elder roared.

"Yes, yes, yes."

"Your subordinate takes his leave!"

The guards left in reverence and awe as they went down. One of the guards on the stairs lost his footing and fell down. Immediately there was a series of sounds implicating a chain of people falling and knocking down.

However under the academy elder's power and influence, the guards reddened their faces and endured in suffering, not letting out a single noise.

"Hmph! Those minions are just like dogs. Every once in a while they'd get this itch to misbehave; you'd have to smack them so that they know fear and respect. Then just throw some small victories and bones to them, letting them fight amongst themselves like dogs, letting them compete amongst themselves to serve my clan with their life. To hold a stick in one hand and a carrot in another – This is the unique way of the upper echelons." As the academy elder heard the quiet movements below, he sneered in his heart and turned his head, looking through the window and at the school gates.

++++++++

A new group of ten or so students were on the ground at the entrance. Di Lan stood proudly, and there were three young girls back-to-back, huddling at a side opposite him.

"You, you-you better not come over!"

"If you come over, we'll shoot you with the fangblade!!"

In their hands were a layer of blue radiance. It seemed like they were compelled to the point they would actually mobilize their spiritual essence and use the Moonfang Spirit.

Di Lan's body was still that of a normal fifteen-year-old boy, and if they attacked him with the fangblade it would not do him any good. Yet he was not afraid – instead he sneered at them and walked step by step towards the girls. "You ladies have pretty big guts, but have you forgotten the rules of the school? Inside the academy fighting using Spirit is forbidden, or else the penalty will be expulsion. If you girls want to be expelled, then just do it."

"This…"The young girls hesitated.

"Indeed, there is such a rule." The blue light in their hands faded away.

Di Lan stared down at the young girl with a gentle smile. "I won't repeat myself again, a piece of spirit stone."

The girl's body fluttered and she quickly opened her money pouch, realization taking hold of her. She took out three to four pieces of spirit stones and held them in her palm, stretching out her hand to Di Lan, "Don't hit me, I'll give them all to you, I'll give all my stones to you!"

Di Lan was nonchalant as he slowly reached out with his left hand. He lifted his forefinger and thumb, gently pinching at a piece of spirit stone from the girl's hand.

The young maiden could not stop trembling. Di Lan's hand had a youth's pale and slender form, but in her eyes his hand was horrifying like a ferocious claw of terror.

"I've said that I will only take one piece of spirit stone for the ladies." Di Lan paused for a moment, then he said humbly, "You may leave."

The girl stared at Di Lan for a good while, then she finally got up. But her limbs were still weak and she could not properly stand. Her heart was already full of fear towards Di Lan, and she was afraid to the point that she could not muster a single breath of energy.

When the academy elder saw this, he could not help but shake his head. One of his reasons to remain an observer was to borrow the chance to see each of the student's respective fighting talents.

This girl who collapsed on the ground was a bronze grade talent, but with this kind of mentality, she won't amount to anything. She can be used by the clan in other ways, but there can be no expectation for her to be on the battlefield.

"As for this Di Lan…" The academy elder rubbed his chin, his eyes squinting with a flash of light. He felt that Di Lan was very interesting, a rough jade that just needs to be polished. Not only did Di Lan possess fighting talent, he even had a sense of propriety. To just extort for a piece of spirit stone was not beyond the bounds in the elder's heart. But if Di Lan wanted to blackmail for two pieces, he would give a thought about intervening.

The academy's allowance was originally three pieces. To have a piece taken away would still be considered harmless. But if he extorted away two stones, then what is the point of giving out subsidy? He might as well just give everything to Di Lan.

Very quickly the last group of students arrived. There were only five people, and among them was Di Lan's twin younger sister.

"Big brother, how could you be like this?! You are too bold, to actually beat up your classmates at the gates and take away their spirit stones!" Mu Di Lang was wide-eyed as he looked at the scene. He could not believe what he was seeing before him, "I advice you to quickly go to the academy elder and take the initiative to admit your mistake, or else with you making such a huge matter, it's not a joke, you might actually get expelled!"

Di Lan laughed and said, "Hmm, you're right."

Di Lang heaved a relieved sigh. Seeing that his older brother hadn't gone insane and could still be persuaded, that was good.

But very quickly he heard Di Lan say again, "Gentlemen can only be extorted for a piece of primeval stone if they decided to battle with me. And of course, if they can win, I'll be the one that gets extorted for 3 spirit stones."

"What?" Di Lang opened his mouth wide with surprise, "Even I need to pay up?"

"Dearest Mu Di Lang, of course you can choose not to." Di Lan's tone was very gentle. "But you will end up just like them," he said and pointed at those fallen on the ground. Some of them had fainted, and some of them were moaning in pain.

"Even his own younger sister isn't spared!"

"This Di Lan is crazy, he's too vicious…"

"We cannot defeat him, a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. We better hand it over and overcome the trouble."

"That's right, we'll just pass up the spirit stone first. It's just one piece anyway, when we go back and report to the teachers, he'll be getting it!"

With the lesson drawn from their classmate's mistakes, the remaining youngsters obediently accepted Di Lan's blackmail with gazes of defiance.

"Hold up." Just as they were about to leave, Di Lan shouted at them to halt.

"Di Lan, are you actually going to go back on your word?" The youths started to become nervous.

Di Lan faced the teenagers on the ground, gently sighing. "Do you guys really think that I would squat down and search through their bodies one by one?"

The youths stared blankly, then they were hit by realization one by one. Each of them turned red in the face and stood at the spot hesitatingly.

Di Lan stared at them, narrowing his eyes. There was a flash of cold light in his gaze; immediately the five youngsters felt their heart beating fast, their scalps going numb at the same time.

"Alright, Di Lan. We understand your meaning."

"We'll just help you this once."

Under Di Lan's despotic aura, they could only lower their heads and search through each of the young teen's money pouches on the ground, taking out a piece of spirit stone from each bag. Then they brought it together and passed it to Di Lan.

The entire D class together A class had a total of forty-two people. By extorting a piece or two of spirit stone from every single one of them, Di Lan held fifty-eight pieces.

"This sort of capital free business that consists of extortion and plundering is really the most profitable business." Di Lan pocketed his money pouch that had suddenly expanded greatly into his bosom and strutted away, leaving behind a floor full of teenagers, lying like corpses on the ground.

And a few teenagers, Di Lang among them, blankly stared after Di Lan's gradually disappearing shadow.

"Get out there fast."

"All of you, faster! Arrange the little masters properly."

"The healer Spirit Master, where is he, ask him to come over fast!"

The guards were yelling as they all rushed forward, falling over each other in their eagerness to present themselves. They willingly gave their all for the small position of being the chief guard.