WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"
Hearing Shen Xiu's exasperated voice, Xue Hui who stood protectively in front of Chen Linlin, peeled his gaze away from Nie Li and drifted it toward Shen Xiu.
Based on her expression, Shen Xiu was both perplexed and furious at what he had just done.
Xue Hui's sudden action interrupted her lecture.
"Hui-hui!?" A soft voice called underneath him, it was Chen Linlin, she was looking at him with a bewildered expression.
arm wrapped around her shoulder, Xue Hui sent a knowing look at her, seemingly saying that he would explain everything to her later.
Chen Linlin nodded in understanding and kept her questions for later.
But despite that, she remained vigilant. It was abrupt, but Chen Linlin was certain that she had just sensed Xue Hui was on the verge of unleashing his soul force before he stopped himself and suppressed it.
Noticing her anxiety, Xue Hui met Chen Linlin worried gaze and gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned with her own.
Judging that there's no danger around them, Xue Hui withdrew his arms wrapped around Chen Linlin, and turned around to face Shen Xiu, scratching his cheek with his finger. He smiled and spoke to Shen Xiu.
"Sorry about that, teacher." Chuckling, Xue Hui offered an apology first for his actions, which made Shen Xiu's eyebrows knit, Xue Hui's insincere apology only succeeded to infuriate her more.
"I felt the ground shake and thought there might be a tremor, so my body just moved on its own and tried to shield Linlin," Xue Hui explained.
Hearing his words, the students around him began to murmur, asking each other if they also felt any shaking just now, which they all answered by no.
Shen Xiu let out a huff. She herself hadn't felt anything either. Using her Soul force Shen Xiu heightened her senses to feel her surroundings, it was faint but she certainly felt a slight movement from the ground.
Looking out the window, Shen Xiu saw a group of Demon Spiritualist students performing soul force measurements, which involved hitting a measuring device that caused the ground underneath them to shake.
But it was faint, so much so that Shen Xiu wouldn't have noticed any shaking if Xue Hui hadn't said anything.
Believing she found the source of the tremors she gave Xue Hui a condescending look and berated him for his actions. "You want to be a Demon Spiritualist, yet you're easily spooked by a little shaking?" Shen Xiu snickered, her tone full of mockery. "You might want to rethink your career path. Fighting demon beasts will always cause tremors of some kind, you'll end up dead if you can't control yourself every time the ground shakes."
Hearing Shen Xiu's mocking words, some of the students let out a mocking laugh.
To them what Shen Xiu said is way too funny. How could someone want to be a Demon Spiritualist if they were afraid of tremors?Is he not aware that many demon beasts are huge in size? Their movements will always cause the ground to shake.
Chen Linlin's face scowled upon hearing all the jeers of students around her. 'Afraid!? Hui-hui's afraid!? How could he be afraid of anyone!?' She was tempted to stand up and tell everyone how strong Xue Hui is, so she could shut them all up.
Unlike her, Xue Hui showed no signs of being bothered by jeering around him. He stood regally, poised and calm, he looked at everyone and smiled. "Being afraid is perfectly fine. Everyone is afraid of demon beasts, yet people are still willing to go against them, bravery does not mean you have nothing to be afraid of."
As he spoke, some of the students stopped laughing and began pondering his words.
Xue Hui continued. "As long as you don't act like a coward when it matters, then it is fine for you to feel afraid."
Those students who listened to his every word felt like their soul force was surging. Their hearts pounded; Xue Hui's few casual words gave them insight into what it meant to be a Demon Spiritualist.
Slowly, Xue Hui's regal expression shifted into a mischievous one, as a knowing grin appeared on his face. "At least I don't freeze up and pee myself when I'm scared"
For a moment, everyone fell silent, confused by what Xue Hui meant by it. Then realization struck them, it started from one snort, then the students burst into laughter, which confused Shen Xiu. Unaware that her students were making fun of her niece, Shen Yue.
"Quiet!" she shouted, putting a tiny bit of her spiritual pressure into her voice, which quieted everyone.
Shen Xiu stared at Xue Hui scornfully and folded her arms across her chest. "Go back to your seat. You've already wasted my time," Shen Xiu barked irritably, as she dismissed him. "Do that again and I'll have you stand outside."
Following her words, Xue Hui exchanged looks with Chen Linlin, before walking back to his seat.
While doing so, Xue Hui's gaze swept toward the back of the class, at the same time, Nie Li met his gaze, both of them were trying to read each other out.
After the small interruption, the class continued as normal, Shen Xiu resumed her lecture, talking about soul force and innate talent.
Comparing the gap in everyone's talent, as she did so, many commoner students felt their faces burning, they couldn't help but to lower their heads in shame.
Shen Xiu was merciless with her words, constantly attacking their poor talent and lowly backgrounds.
"After you've all grown up and left this school, you will understand my words. Equality is merely a lie that adults fill you with. You can't live in a fairy tale forever."
Listening to her, Xue Hui's eyes flashed with hatred. 'The audacity of this woman to talk down to people when she and her entire Sacred Family betrayed the Glory city by abandoning their duties.' He thought angrily.
Seeing Shen Xiu's proud and condescending attitude as she continued to crush the confidence of many commoner students, Xue Hui decided that is what time to shut her up. And was about to speak, to make that vile woman swallow her words.
When out of nowhere, a student from the back of the class raised his hand and interrupted Shen Xiu's lecture.
"Teacher Shen Xiu, I have a question."
Xue Hui looked back to see who it was and saw Nie Li's arm raised while snickering.
What followed turned into a one-man show of Nie Li picking apart every one of Shen Xiu's words, and throwing them back to her face.
First, Nie Li questioned her claim that Glory City was the last and only surviving refuge of humanity in the entire world.
While Xue Hui himself hadn't seen much of the Tiny World, he was certain there were still places where humanity, if not surviving, was actually thriving.
For Shen Xiu to claim that Glory City was the only surviving City in the world was simply laughable.
"Let me tell Teacher Shen Xiu a story. Once, a frog was living at the bottom of a well. Since its birth, it has never left. All it could see was a small patch of sky, so it believed the sky was no bigger than the well's opening. But is the sky really only that big? No, we can only say that the frog is ignorant."
Shen Xiu's expression turned ugly, realizing that Nie Li was outright comparing her to a frog.
The students tried and failed, to hold back their laughter.
Even Ye Ziyun, who's listening beside Xue Hui, couldn't help but let out a soft giggle upon hearing Nei Li's words.
Seeing Ye Ziyun's reaction, Nie Li glanced at her and gave her a wink. Which made her avert gaze to him.
As she muttered under her breath. "Such audacity."
Hearing her words, Xue Hui leaned on her and whispered to her."It seems that boy is showing off to you, Lady Ye Ziyun,"
"N-no, he's not. I don't even know him," Ye Ziyun replied in a hurry, denying his words, as her face turned flushed from their sudden closeness.
As she became flustered, Xue Hui sensed a faint killing intent coming from the back of the class, zeroing in on him.
Xue Hui laughed inwardly, he didn't even need to look behind him to know who it came from.
The faint stutter and shift in tone were enough for him to recognize it was Nie Li.
'Interesting,' Xue Hui my murmured, he was interested to know why he garnered such a reaction from Nie Li.
Nie Li continued finding faults in Shen Xiu's words.
He pointed out how wrong she was to claim that commoners could never achieve anything, reminding everyone that Ye Mo, Glory City's legendary protector, had come from commoner origins.
Shen Xiu tried to justify herself by claiming that Ye Mo's case was special, which made her sound like an idiot.
Even Xue Hui couldn't help but snicker at such a self-contradictory rebuttal.
In the end, unable to answer back, Shen Xiu targeted Nie Li's character, revealing to everyone that Nie Li only possessed a red soul realm, an aptitude even poorer than that of most commoners.
Even Ye Ziyun felt a bit sorry for Nie Li upon hearing how bad his innate talent was.
Even so, Nie Li showed no signs of backing down. He allowed Shen Xiu to mock him, and when she finished he retaliated with his own, emphasizing that innate talent was not the basis of one's achievements.
"I know your heart is filled with contempt, but one day I will silence you with undeniable facts. Aptitude does not determine a person's achievements! We use the weak to defeat the strong—to defy the heavens! As practitioners, we are already challenging the impossible by going against the natural order of heaven!"
Xue Hui's breath hitched, hearing Nie Li's words. He was certain those mantras belonged to Emperor Kong Ming, a supreme expert who existed even before Emperor Shen Jiao Dao.
Surprised, Xue Hui turned his gaze back to Nie Li. If his earlier actions hadn't caught Xue Hui's attention, reciting those mantras certainly did.
"Without an unyielding fighting spirit, without the courage to turn the impossible into possible, even extraordinary talent is useless. Since I, Nie Li, was born into this world, I will challenge the impossible! Teacher Shen Xiu, how about making a bet with me?" Nie Li's voice rang out powerfully.
As Nie Li continued speaking, Xue Hui fell into deep thought. The temporal distortions, Emperor Kong Ming's mantra, and Nie Li's unusual insight.
All of it formed a theory in Xue Hui's mind about what might have happened earlier, though he didn't make a conclusion.
Without further evidence, making baseless assumptions won't yield any good for him.
But that didn't mean Xue Hui would ignore all the oddities surrounding Nie Li.
He would need to keep a close eye on him from now on. The only question was whether Nie Li had already figured him out, just as he had figured out Nie Li.
Nie Li curled his lips up in disdain as he continued berating Shen Xiu.
"I feel ashamed to have a teacher like you. I can guarantee that in this class, there will be many commoners who will exceed your imagination. They will achieve the unimaginable. Instead of guiding them patiently, you use harsh words to crush their confidence. You are not worthy to be a teacher! Although my talent is weak, so what? One day, I will become a Legend-rank Demon Spiritualist like Lord Ye Mo and marry the most beautiful woman in Glory City!"
Nie Li sent a fond look toward Ye Ziyun, which made her blush.
At the same time, Nie Li also shot a glance full of hostility toward Xue Hui.
"Yup," Xue Hui muttered under his breath, meeting Nie Li's eyes. He definitely caught his attention that's for sure.
Averting his gaze back to the front, Xue Hui leaned to his seat. 'I don't know who you are, Nie Li, but if you're looking for trouble, then I don't mind giving you some," he thought.
It didn't matter to Xue Hui who his enemies were. If they dared to harm those people he held so much importance, then he would simply make them disappear before they could pose a threat to his loved ones.
Xue Hui's goal is to have a strength that can surpass the likes of Origin Gods; and live freely with the fear of someone stealing his happiness.
So it doesn't matter if his enemies were the Sage Emperor, Emperor Kong Ming, or even Nie Li. To him, all of them were just stepping stones to achieve his dream.
Convinced that Nie Li would amount to nothing due to his poor talent, Shen Xiu didn't hesitate to accept the bet with Nie Li.
At the end of the semester, two months from now, if Nie Li failed to reach Bronze rank Demon Spiritualist, he would need to withdraw from the academy. On the other hand, if Nie Li did reach bronze rank, Shen Xiu is the one who needs to leave the academy.
Hearing the bet, Xue Hui let out a knowing grin. Unlike his classmates who think that Nie Li is losing his mind to make such a one-sided bet against Shen Xiu.
Xue Hui, on the other hand, believed that Shen Xiu had signed herself up for complete public humiliation.
Xue Hui laughed inwardly to himself. He found it amusing how the Sacred Family kept making enemies to unusual people like him and Nie Li.
"Such rudeness toward your teacher. For the next two months, you will stand at the back of the classroom and listen!" After agreeing to the bet, Shen Xiu punished Nie Li by standing at the back of the class.
As Nie Li stood at the back, students he received some laughter and jeering from the student, but paid it no mind.
His actions inspired quite a few students, mostly the commoners, who felt grateful for standing for them so decided to show their support, by standing alongside Niel li. sharing his punishment.
Shen Xiu merely huffed at their actions, allowing them to suffer alongside Nie Li. In her mind, all of them would be gone in two months anyway.
Now that the confrontation was over, Shen Xiu resumed her mediocre lecture.
As the lecture continued, Xue Hui felt a gaze fixed on him. Looking to his side, he saw Chen Linlin's dainty fingers covering her lips, probably to hide her grin.
Her eyes had a sparkle in them. As her gaze shifted between him and Nie Li's group. She looked excited for some reason.
It didn't take long before Xue Hui read her thought, eyebrows twitching, he shook his head, as he mouthed the word, "No." at her. Which made Chen Linlin pout.
Seeing her dissatisfaction, Xue Hui activated the soul communication technique. And spoke to her. 'I don't want to. It's nonsense.' Xue Hui stated.
Unfortunately for Xue Hui, Chen Linlin is not listening to her. She squealed directly inside his mind. Which made him jolt. "Eeeeeeiiiiii! Do it! Go stand with them, It would be so cool, standing up to injustice and showing camaraderie. This is your chance to make friends, Hui-hui!"
While the two are talking with their mind. Ye Ziyun, who had a bashful expression, had to lean back in her chair, a bead of sweat running down her forehead. As Xue Hui had unknowingly leaned toward her direction, invading her personal space, so much so that Ye Ziyun could practically smell Xue Hui's unique scent.
'I don't need to stand at the back of the class to look cool. I'm already cool even without doing anything." Xue Hui declared,
And I don't need friends, I have you,' he finished.
Not convinced, Chen Linlin crossed her arms, as she shook her head disapprovingly 'You don't understand the appeal of brotherhood Hui-hui. Look at them" she pointed her finger to the back of the class 'they already bonding with each other'
Xue Hui rolled his eyes. Why would he want to bond with those guys anyway.?
'And I don't count as your friend anymore, Hui-hui,' Chen Linlin added, there's a smugness in her expression. "We already made out, I don't think you exchange spit with your friend do you?' she said teasingly.
Chen Linlin's words caught Xue Hui completely off guard; he choked on air and erupted into a coughing fit.
Action that disrupts Shen Xiu's lecture once more, with a furious expression. Shen Xiu pointed her finger to Xue Hui. "THAT'S IT! YOU TOO, GO STAND AT THE BACK!" Shen Xiu shrieked in anger.
End of Chapter 39