Chapter 13 - A Thorough Beatdown

"Zhou Yuan, Lin Feng!"

The moment this shout was heard, the originally noisy field instantly fell silent. Soon after, booming cheers exploded as practically every person flooded toward that particular arena.

After winning the previous few matches, Zhou Yuan had undoubtedly become the most dazzling black horse in the newcomer exam. However, the opponent he encountered this time was Lin Feng!

Lin Feng was hugely popular amongst the new batch of students and was rumored to be the most likely candidate for the number one position in the exam.

Amongst the new batch of students, Lin Feng was one of the very best.

Would Zhou Yuan be a black horse till the end, or would he be stopped by Lin Feng just outside the top ten? Everyone was burning to find out.

Su Youwei's expression also changed drastically at this moment. It was obvious that it had never occurred to her that Zhou Yuan and Lin Feng would meet. One must know that even she would have prepared for a hard fight against Lin Feng, what more the merely two channels Zhou Yuan?

Lin Feng also looked towards Zhou Yuan with an expressionless face. However, there was coldness and disdain in those eyes of his.

Lin Feng seemed to smile and say something to Qi Yue before pushing off the ground with the tip of his foot, causing his body to rise into the air. He landed on the arena in a confident manner that drew cheers from the surrounding crowd.

A cold smile also emerged from the corners of Liu Xi's lips when she saw this. "Let's see how he will win this time!"

Qi Yue also smiled and nodded. Lin Feng's strength was top tier amongst four channel practitioners. Dealing with a mere Zhou Yuan should not be too difficult.

On the viewing platform, Chu Tianyang frowned a little upon seeing that Zhou Yuan and Lin Feng had been matched. Soon after, a cold glint flitted across his eyes as he beckoned to a guard and said in a flat voice, "After today, fire the one who's in charge of the arrangements for this exam."

He had already realized that it was rather strange for Zhou Yuan to repeatedly encounter formidable opponents. Now that even Lin Feng had been matched with the former, how could he possibly fail to grasp what was going on? Fury instantly flooded his heart. To think that these people dared to target Zhou Yuan in front of him.

By the side, Xu Hong's expression remained unchanged as he asked, "Isn't this a little too much?"

Chu Tianyang coldly chuckled and replied, "All of you know full well what you have done. Besides, I am the headmaster and do not need the likes of you to teach me how to do things."

There was a little anger in Xu Hong's eyes, but in the end, he only snorted and did not speak any further. Although Qi Yue had exposed some of Qi Manor's men, it did not affect the grand scheme of things.

Under numerous gazes of pity from the field, Zhou Yuan also stepped onto the arena.

Lin Feng stood with his hands behind his back, looking rather tall and handsome. He looked at Zhou Yuan and said with a superficial smile, "Your highness is truly surprising. To think that you were able to come all the way here."

Zhou Yuan glanced at Lin Feng and replied in a lazy and indifferent tone, "You will be even more surprised later on."

Lin Feng let out a cold laugh. "I look forward to it."

Sparks were already flying in the exchange of words between the two like two needles clashing at their tips.

"Match begin!" The referee's shout rang out in the arena, breaking the exchange between the two.

In the arena, Zhou Yuan and Lin Feng stared at each other.

One's Eyes were full of Disdain, and anger while the other one was simply staring at him with a little pity in his Eyes.

What Zhou Yuan was about to do right now, was to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

Naturally, that chicken was Lin Feng.

Before Lin Feng could move, Zhou Yuan interrupted him and said to the referee in a serious tone.

"Sir referee, do you have a healing master on the sidelines?"

"Ah Yes your Highness, there are healing masters on the sidelines."

"I see then we can continue, sorry for the disturbance referee."

With a stamp from Lin Feng's foot, his body rose into the air. A whip-leg ripped through the air with a 'chi la' sound, filled with astonishing force. Like a whip, it viciously snapped at Zhou Yuan's head.

This kick could shatter even rock.

Zhou Yuan's arm swept out horizontally, blocking the kick.

The situation kept going similarly with Lin Feng attacking and Zhou Yuan blocking every attack with his body.

Thud thud thud!

In a short span of less than a dozen breaths, the two already exchanged a dozen blows. Each strike was deadly and aimed at the vitals, causing the onlookers outside the arena to be greatly disturbed.

Waves of noise rippled from below the arena. The crowd now looked at Zhou Yuan in a new light. Both of the participants had not used any Genesis Qi in their earlier exchanges and fully relied on the quality of their respective bodies.

However, Lin Feng's four-channel body was not able to obtain even the slightest advantage over Zhou Yuan.

This caused them to be rather shocked. No matter how much they racked their brains, they could not understand why Zhou Yuan's body would be so strong.

The commotion below the stage also caused Lin Feng's expression to become somewhat ugly. The cold light in his eyes immediately became colder as he took in a deep breath and no longer held anything back. "Four channels open!"

The moment Lin Feng's shout rang out, Genesis Qi surged over from all around and poured into his body.

Strands of Genesis Qi light swirled around Lin Feng's body, and faint cracks started to grow on the stone arena below his feet. It was very intimidating.

Bang!

Lin Feng's foot stomped, cracking the stone floor of the arena. His speed soared and he instantly appeared in front of Zhou Yuan, palm-wind screaming as a strike powerfully swept towards Zhou Yuan.

However, Zhou Yuan still did not move and blocked the attack with his body.

Lin Feng's attack hit him which led to Zhou Yuan being thrown to the edge of the ring.

"Zhou Yuan you're finished", Lin Feng roared as he once again pounced him.

However, this time Zhou Yuan caught his punch and tightly gripped his fist with his fist.

"Is that all you got?" Zhou Yuan asked looking into Lin Feng's Eyes.

"What, how are you doing this?", Lin Feng asked flustered and sacred.

"A soon-to-be broken person deserves no explanations", Zhou Yuan said in a tone of finality, as he smashed his fist into Lin Feng's Face sending him to the Ground.

Then the beatdown began.

At first, Zhou Yuan only used the power of his body to beat Lin Feng.

Then Zhou Yuan undid his Heavybody Rune. Which caused a substantial increase in his speed.

After that Zhou Yuan flashed from one side of the ring to the other while treating Lin Feng as a punching bag.

Truth be told Zhou Yuan had not tested his speed in a real fight and he found this to be the best opportunity.

As Zhou Yuan stopped for a while, Lin Feng stood up with shame and humiliation on his face.

His face had been beaten which caused it to swell and form bruises.

"Mid-grade Genesis technique, Metal Demon Wall!"

Lin Feng roared. One could only watch as the flowing Genesis Qi light on the surface of his body whizzed out, forming a faint membrane of black light in front of him.

Although this light film was extremely thin, its dark luster gave off a feeling of indestructible solidness.

Upon seeing the black light membrane that had appeared on the surface of Lin Feng's body, the expression on Su Youwei's pretty face immediately changed drastically. She knew that this Metal Demon Wall was considered top tier amongst mid-grade Genesis techniques. Not only did it possess extremely strong defensive power, but it was also able to reflect a portion of the enemy's attacks.

In other words, if it was not instantly destroyed, the more powerful an attack, the greater the backlash on the attacker.

Zhou Yuan's expression still did not change as he stamped his foot on the ground. "Two channels open!"

"So he plans to rely on a tortoise shell…"

Zhou Yuan coldly chuckled as coldness surged in his eyes. "Since you are so confident in this tortoiseshell, I insist on breaking it!"

On the tall platform, the ashen faces of Qin Ye and Liu Xi finally formed mocking smiles when they saw this scene.

Qi Yue's ten fingers were clasped together, he said in a mocking voice, "Looks like our prince does not know that Lin Feng's specialty is not attacking, but defense…"

"Among those at the four-channel level, no one has been able to break Lin Feng's defense."

"That's why the more powerful his attacks, the more miserable his defeat will be. Hehe, I truly look forward to it."

Zhou Yuan's figure shot forth and he appeared in front of Lin Feng in an instant.

Zhou Yuan's five fingers tightly grasped together and swung forth in an incomparably heavy manner. The speed of this punch surpassed the speed of sound.

A sonic boom was heard as his fist smashed into the black light membrane.

Lin Feng's expression turned into one of terror as he could feel a frightening power surging towards him.

He knew if this punch directly landed on him then he would undoubtedly die.

"Break!"

Zhou Yuan's icy roar rang out at this moment.

Bang!

The moment he roared, everyone was overwhelmed with shock to see the layer of black light on the surface of Lin Feng's body shatter in response.

"I admit…" Terror filled Lin Feng's face as he hastily tried to cry out.

However, Zhou Yuan did not wait for him to finish. The fist heavily slammed into Lin Feng's chest.

At the last moment, Zhou Yuan had withdrawn nearly half of his power from the punch.

'Can't knock him out before he is broken' Thought Zhou Yuan.

Urgh!

A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out as Lin Feng's body was sent flying backward under many shocked gazes. However before he could go out of the arena, Zhou Yuan flashed and caught him before throwing him into the arena.

Following Lin Feng's fall into the arena, the entire field was blanketed in silence. Everyone was stupefied as they watched this scene. Even Su Youwei's eyes were wide open, her hand over her mouth.

"How…"

Everyone mumbled to themselves, their faces full of disbelief. Just moments ago, they had been admiring Lin Feng's solid defense, and a split second later, that seemingly indestructible Metal Demon Wall had been smashed to pieces by a single punch from Zhou Yuan…

Just how powerful was that punch?

Was this really what a two-channel opener was capable of?

"Excellent!"

Chu Tianyang burst out on the viewing platform. He quickly rose to his feet, his eyes flashing brightly, his face filled with amazement. The power of Zhou Yuan's earlier punch was not that of a two-channel practitioner.

However it was not over yet, and Zhou Yuan would not allow to end it this early, he had to do something that should set an example and discourage some trash from even causing him trouble.

After coming into this World Zhou Yuan confirmed that average the IQ of this world was likely lower than his original world, as these fools only knew how to see the surface of everything.

Lin Feng tried to push himself up from the ground when Zhou Yuan grabbed his arm to pull him up and started hammering him with punches.

Zhou Yuan's fists were flying as he slammed them onto Lin Feng's body.

Lin Feng's wails were heard all over the field.

Zhou Yuan said nothing and finally began to raise his foot.

CRUNCH

Zhou Yuan smashed his foot down on Lin Feng as his bones began to crack and break. He didn't stop as he smashed his legs ignoring the whimper of Lin Feng with indifferent eyes.

The audience was shocked and even fearful as they watched Zhou Yuan beat the shit out of Lin Feng. One had to know that he was the strongest candidate for the 1st position in this newcomer exam.

But now he was on the end of an unrelenting beating.

After Zhou Yuan was satisfied, he stopped and walked off the stage calmly and confidently, with no signs of remorse in his eyes.

Watching Zhou Yuan leave, the referee got out of his daze and announced him as the winner before hurriedly walking to Lin Feng and checking his condition.

All the bones in his body were broken apart, his joints were dislocated, his organs were damaged and he was having heavy internal bleeding. His chest was almost caved in by Zhou Yuan repeatedly stomping, and pressing on it.

Safe to say that this lad would not be able to cultivate even in the future, as these injuries would take nearly 3-4 years to heal, not to mention the damages done to his internal organs would disrupt his Eight meridians.

Before completely walking off the stage, Zhou Yuan turned around and looked at the tall platform before he smiled gently, extended his hand, and slid it across his throat before he walked off.

On the tall platform, Qi Yue's and Liu Xi's smiles had long been frozen.

Crack.

Qi Yue's hands suddenly clenched, crushing the railing in front of him. His handsome face had turned white with rage and fear.

Rage due to the action done by Zhou Yuan, and fear upon seeing the condition of Lin Feng.

Qi Yue's gaze was tightly glued to the young figure as murder surged in his eyes. In the past, he had treated Zhou Yuan as a joke, yet at this very moment, Qi Yue could genuinely feel the heavy threat.

"How is this possible", A pale face Liu Xi spit out between gnashed teeth.

To be honest Liu Xi was feeling both regret and fear.

No fear was not the right word, she was downright terrified of Zhou Yuan at this moment, seeing his ruthlessness had filled her with intense terror.

She was beginning to regret when she thought of how she had rejected Zhou Yuan.

If he one day plans to take revenge on her for this then, Liu Xi just shivers at the thought of it.

The silence outside the arena continued for quite some time till it was eventually broken by thunderous cheers. The eyes of numerous boys and girls were filled with admiration, fear, and excitement as they gazed at the figure on the stage. No one would have dreamt that this prince of theirs, who was rumored to be incapable of opening his channels, would give such a miraculous performance today…

People were also rather afraid of him now if the beating he gave to Lin Feng was anything to go by.

Zhou Yuan merely smiled when he heard the cheers resounding below the stage, he shook his head before walking towards Su Youwei.

Upon seeing that Su Youwei had been unblinkingly staring at him all along, he could not help but chuckle and say, "Oh? Was little Weiwei finally subdued by my charm?"

Su Youwei's face turned slightly red. But she did not deny it before snorting and turning her head away as if she was angered by Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan smiled fondly before patting and rubbing her hair affectionately.

Fortunately, the exam finally came to an end after one last big battle.

On the viewing platform, Chu Tianyang watched the exam reach its end and nodded his head in satisfaction. Both Zhou Yuan and Su Youwei had made it to the top ten, a fact that made him especially happy.

After all, he had originally only placed his hopes in Su Youwei. Who would have imagined that the usually polite and gentle Zhou Yuan would suddenly become so ferocious that even Lin Feng would be thrashed in his hands? Moreover, he knew that Zhou Yuan had only been engaging in channel opening training for a month.

Two channels in a month of training and battle power surpassed even the four-channel Lin Feng. Such talent was likely even greater than Su Youwei's.

How could Chu Tianyang not be overjoyed by an unexpected haul like this? He now had a little confidence in the originally completely hopeless year-end class ranking exam.

"Now that the newcomer exam has concluded, next up will be the class allocation. You may select your class as long as you meet the conditions." Chu Tianyang gazed at the numerous boys and girls on the field as his powerful voice boomed in everyone's ears.

His gaze first looked towards the top ten new students. "The top ten may enter the A class. Are any of you willing?"

At this moment, Xu Hong walked to Chu Tianyang's side and added with a superficial smile, "If any of you desire, you may enter my B class. You should also know that my B class has placed first in the Great Zhou Institute for the past two years."

Anger rose in Chu Tianyang's eyes, but what Xu Hong said was true and he could only let out a snort.

"I hope to enter the B class."

"I shall also enter the B class."

".….."

In the wake of Xu Hong's words, several voices immediately rang out simultaneously. A total of seven people amongst the top ten indicated that they wished to enter the B class. It was obvious that these people had been bought over by Qi Yue's generous promises long ago.

Although Chu Tianyang had anticipated this, his face could not help but turn somewhat green. After all, practically every person who ranked amongst the top ten would choose the A class several years ago. Yet, only two or three would make the same decision in the present.

Xu Hong let out two hearty chuckles when he saw Chu Tianyang's ugly expression. "Alright, since that is the case, all of you will be part of my B class from now on."

"I'm entering the A class." It was at this moment that Zhou Yuan calmly declared, interrupting Xu Hong's loud laughter.

"I will also enter the A class." Said Su Youwei without any hesitation.

The final person hesitated for a moment before finally choosing the A class.

Upon seeing that the two most outstanding individuals of this newcomer exam had chosen to enter the A class, Xu Hong's pleased expression receded a little as he brushed his sleeves with an icy snort.

Chu Tianyang's expression seemed to ease somewhat as he turned towards Zhou Yuan, Su Youwei, and the third person. "Since that is so, you three will be part of my A class after today."

"The rest of my fellow class masters may begin to recruit your members."

Chu Tianyang looked towards the other class masters. After the ten best seedlings had been allocated, the remaining students would be divided among the other classes.

The martial practice field was abuzz with activity. Things only quietened down a long while later when all the new students had been split into the various classes.

"Today's newcomer exam is formally over. After today, everyone will enter their respective classes to train. Do not slack off." Headmaster Chu's deep voice boomed.

On the field, many boys and girls respectfully responded.

After all these matters were settled, headmaster Chu glanced in the direction of Zhou Yuan and Su Youwei, giving them a slight nod before turning around to leave.

The field was bustling with noise and excitement. Numerous girls and boys were exceptionally happy. After today, they would finally leave behind their new student status and become true members of the Great Zhou Institute.

After all, the treatment of new students and true students would be as different as black and white.

Zhou Yuan called out to Su Youwei, planning to leave, but suddenly raised his head as if sensing something. On the tall platform nearby, an expressionless Qi Yue glanced at the former, his eyes flickering with spookily cold light before he turned and left.

Zhou Yuan watched him leave with eyes that were indifferent as for him, Qi Yue was just a bug waiting to be crushed. His only focus now was on building the strongest foundation as his goal was to become a God not play with some ants or worms.

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Royal palace.

"Great, great, Yuan'er is truly the dragon of our Zhou clan!"

At the dining table, there was a healthy radiant glow on Zhou Qing's face while his usual sternness was replaced by unconcealable happiness. He beamed as he looked towards Zhou Yuan and chuckled, "You might not know but Chu Tianyang specially made a trip to the palace and praised you a whole lot."

He was aware of Zhou Yuan's performance in the newcomer exam today.

By the side, Qin Yu was practically glowing as she looked at Zhou Yuan, her eyes similarly filled with joy and love.

Zhou Yuan ate his food and merely smiled in response to Zhou Qing's and Qin Yu's praise as he said, "It's only a newcomer exam. No big deal".

Zhou Qing nodded upon hearing this and gleefully said, "No arrogance after victory. Brat, your years of suffering have not been in vain."

"But the year-end class ranking exam is very important."

Zhou Qing slowly continued, "Qi Manor has been eyeing the Great Zhou Institute and has secretly schemed for a long time. If they are allowed to take the number one spot in the year-end class ranking exam again, I'm afraid that they will begin to make things difficult."

Cold light flashed in Zhou Qing's eyes. It was clear that he hated Qi Manor to the extreme.

Qin Yu tenderly looked at Zhou Yuan and said in a somewhat hesitant manner, "But Qi Yue has already opened six meridian channels and will likely become even stronger by the end of the year. Yuan'er's starting point is much later than his…"

To make up for the gap between them, Zhou Yuan had to put in a tremendous amount of hard work.

Contrary to expectation, Zhou Yuan's expression remained undisturbed. He smiled at Qin Yu and said, "Don't worry mother and father. I will not let them have their way. If they try I will break every single bone in their body."

He clearly understood how dangerous the current situation was for Great Zhou.

Zhou Qing and Qin Yu felt gratified when they saw Zhou Yuan's sensibility. However, the feelings of self-blame and heartache were greater. If they had realized King Wu's plot in advance back then, Great Zhou would not have fallen into such a state and Zhou Yuan would not have had to shoulder these burdens at his tender age.

Zhou Qing changed the topic to shift the slightly gloomy mood." By the way Yuan'er, I wanted to ask you something."

"Please ask Father".

"Why were you so heavy-handed when dealing with Lin Feng, even the patriarch of the Lin Clan had come to me to ask for an explanation."

"To be honest father, I did it on a whim but there were some reasons. First was to deter all those brainless fellows who wanted to mess with me, and that Lin Feng also had murderous intentions towards me and also tried to get close to my Weiwei so I thought it was necessary, to let him understand some things clearly, now a seed of fear has been planted in all student's hearts which will lead them to think twice before even thinking of messing with me, In short, it saved me some time which would have been wasted on dealing with those trashes." 

Zhou Qing was stunned, he did not expect this type of explanation.

Zhou Yuan immediately changed the topic. "I would also like to thank Miss Yaoyao for all her teachings, they all helped me immensely."

By the side, when the silently dining Yaoyao with Tuntun on her lap heard these words, her gaze lightly swept across Zhou Yuan as if unhappy that he had shifted the attention to her.

Zhou Qing nodded upon hearing this and smiled. "Miss Yaoyao is indeed our benefactor. Come, I'll toast a cup to you."

The moment he said this, Qin Yu's displeased glare arrived. In her eyes, Yaoyao was still a young girl and Zhou Qing's actions were practically leading her astray.

However, before she could speak, the eyes of the originally silent Yaoyao brightened slightly as she raised her wine cup and drained it in a single gulp.

Zhou Qing was stunned. He glanced at Qin Yu, seeing her displeased gaze and awkwardly laughed before quickly finishing the wine in his cup. After which, he no longer dared to speak of toasting.

…

Qi Manor.

An oil lamp burned within a study, spreading dusky yellow light.

A middle-aged man in yellow robes sat upright behind a desk, expressionless as he flipped through the books. A cold and stern aura rose from between his brows, while a faint pressure spread outwards, causing no one to dare to underestimate this individual.

Qi Yue stood in front of the desk, his hands hanging by his side while his face respectful.

"You say that crippled prince is now able to engage in channel-opening cultivation?" After a long silence, the middle-aged man in yellow finally shifted his gaze away from his books and dully said.

"Yes father. He has defeated the four channel Lin Feng with the strength of two channels." Qi Yue immediately responded.

This middle-aged man in yellow robes was King Qi of Great Zhou, Qi Yuan.

King Qi's eyes narrowed slightly like a viper as he slowly said, "As expected of the one who once possessed the sacred dragon blessing. He can still crawl up even after being crippled to such an extent. Such tenacity."

Killing intent flitted across Qi Yue's eyes. "Father, do we send news of this to the Wu Empire?"

King Qi mumbled to himself for a while before shaking his head. "The Wu Empire is currently engaged in war with two neighboring empires. How could they possibly spare any time for a Great Zhou on the verge of death? As for the crippled prince, his sacred dragon blessing was taken and he even received backlash in the form of the Dragon's Resentment Poison. It is not so easy for him to recover. His current state is probably akin to the final radiance of a dying star."

Qi Yue nodded upon hearing this. Zhou Yuan had been crippled far too greatly back then. Clawing his way back up would indeed be difficult.

"Moreover, even if he can crawl back up, do you believe that I, Qi Yuan, will be afraid of a hairless brat?" Qi Yuan coldly chuckled before continuing, "I've prepared for so many years, and even Zhou Qing does not dare to do anything to me now. How can a mere two-channel brat possibly alter the grand scheme of things?"

"If we have to inform Great Wu of a mere crippled prince, it will instead make them look down on us. If that happens, even if we take over Great Zhou in the future, they will believe that we succeeded with little effort."

Qi Yuan threw the book in his hand onto the table as he continued, "As long as the B class takes the number one position in the year-end class ranking exam, the Great Zhou Institute will be mine. That is most important."

"Therefore, you must take first place in the year-end class ranking exam."

In response to Qi Yuan's gaze, Qi Yue nodded without the slightest shred of hesitation and confidently said, "Relax father. No one in the Great Zhou Institute will be able to compete with me in the year-end class ranking exam."

"As for Zhou Yuan, if he does not tactfully back down, I will cripple him again and see if he is still able to crawl back up!"

Although Qi Yue said this he had little to no confidence in himself. 

As Zhou Yuan had predicted, he had planted a seed of fear in other's hearts.

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END 

(Man that was one Long chapter wasn't It? Anyways ENJOY)

4794 Words.