Translated by: Laplace

Edited by: Ea

Freshmen drew old students, and all the old students watched from the stands from far away, waiting for the new sheep they could abuse to appear. After all, since entering the school, this was the only opportunity to bully their Martial Brothers fair and square. The freshmen started drawing lots. Some of them drew a strong senior martial brother or sister, and wailed, lamenting their deaths, wishing they could do it again. Some people drew ones with ordinary cultivation, letting go of their breath, saying prayers, and planned to go back and exchange feelings with the senior martial brothers, begging the other side for mercy.

“East Courtyard’s disciple Shen Congrong, against North Courtyard’s disciple Yang Le. East Courtyard’s disciple Gu Ning will be fighting North Courtyard’s disciple Shi Yao.”

The seniors reported the leaf cards, then put the leaf cards in a storage bag and returned them to the older students later.

Yan Tianhen’s turn was next.

Yan Tianhen stepped forward, felt around in the box, and picked up with a leaf card in his hand. After looking at the name, the corners of Yan Tianhen lips twitched.

“East Courtyard disciple, Yan Tianhen, fights North Courtyard’s Ying Guanchao!”

As soon as the words were read, the scene began to get noisy.

Ying Guanchao raised an eyebrow, sitting in a North Courtyard seat, with an expression of idle complacency. The person next to him couldn’t help saying, “Young Master Ying, to actually draw you, he’s really out of luck. In our North Courtyard, Young Master Ying is second only to Yan Huanyu in terms of sword cultivation, and could easily beat up Yan Tianhen.”

“That Yan Tianhen can be considered a little unlucky. Of all the people he can draw, he just had to get Young Master Ying.”

“This time when I bet, I will definitely bet on Young Master Ying.”

“I’m a little uneasy.” Another disciple said, “Yan Tianhen is said to have been personally instructed by Huarong Sword Immortal, and his swordsmanship is outstanding.”

Ying Guanchao glanced at him and said contemptuously, “So what even if he is acknowledged by Huarong Sword Immortal? He is just an alchemist, but he is forcefully learning the sword above his own means; Yan Tianhen is just taking the road to his own doom, yet he is still very confident in his swordsmanship. After only learning the sword for a year, he boldly went to Hidden Sword Pavillion to find a sword, and in the end ended up with a useless sword, and the rules of Academy made it clear that if he took a sword down from Hidden Sword Pavillion, then for the rest of his time at the Academy he would have to use that sword, it is also considered to be respecting the sword.”

Longyao Lingguang, who had returned to his seat after drawing a leaf ticket, looked at the result with satisfaction and said with great enthusiasm, “This time, you should teach him proper manners.” Prince Longyao held Sinking Star in his hand, showing a “determined to win” smile on his face.

When Ying Guanchao finished speaking, Longyao Lingguang revealed a satisfied smile.

On the other side, after Yan Tianhen drew the leaf card, he was confronted with Qi Feiqing and Gu Ruyu’s solemn faces full of worry.

Yan Tianhen said with mock ease, “What are you guys doing with that expression, acting as if I am going to lose?”

Gu Ruyu frowned slightly, staring at him and said, “I’m afraid you don’t have much chance of winning against Ying Guanchao.”

Yan Tianhen said, “This kind of assessment doesn’t require freshmen to have to beat the older students, as long they can make the teachers feel that they have the strength to take commissions alone, isn’t it enough?”

Gu Ruyu said, “Since when did you become so naive? Have you forgotten that you have a good relationship with Shen Congrong and Yin Changge?”

Yin Changge also walked over and said with great concern, “Ying Guanchao is not some kind of good person. He already has been bothering me for a long time. This time you drew him, I think he is bound to take it out on you.”

Yan Tianhen was stunned and asked, “When did he bother you?”

Yin Changge hesitated for a moment. Under Yan Tianhen’s very persistent gaze, he had no choice but to say, “Ever since I started going to the Demonic Beast Garden for the work-study program, he always had those Demonic Beasts find trouble for me.”

Yan Tianhen’s face suddenly turned dark and said, “How did those demonic beasts bully you?”

Yin Changge said calmly, “In the Demonic Beast Garden, many of the demonic beasts are brought in by disciples for foster care. Ying Guanchao found some people and got together to have the demonic beasts cause disorder and great chaos whenever I went to clean and take care of them, and so on.”

“If you want my point of view, I’m afraid it’s not that simple.” Shen Qinghe opened his mouth. He looked at Yan Tianhen and slightly smiled. He said, “When I went to the Demonic Beast Garden to find a demonic beast, I met Yin Changge when he was on duty. He was bullied by not only the demonic beasts, but also other work-study disciples. The demonic beasts were cruel and the disciples were ignorant, the injuries he received can only be considered a lot, not a little.”

Yin Changge glared at Shen Qinghe and said, “Didn’t I say before — don’t meddle in other people’s business?”

Shen Qinghe said faintly, “Before, I definitely didn’t meddle. Since you didn’t open your mouth and ask for help, I didn’t care about if you lived or died. However, if you don’t let people know that Ying Guanchao hates you to that extent, What should I do when Yan Tianhen underestimates his opponent when he is competing?”

Yan Tianhen’s expression sank, and when he walked over, he suddenly pulled up Yan Changge’s sleeve, only to see that not only did it look bruised, but also scalded on the jade-white skin. Seeing the ghastly sight, Yan Tianhen’s expression was momentarily blank.

He was unaware that Yin Changge was being humiliated outside, and he didn’t know how things became so serious. “What is this? “Yan Tianhen suddenly raised his voice and widened his eyes. “Is it because they bullied you? Isn’t it?”

Gu Ruyu also had a serious expression. As the person in charge, he didn’t even know that a disciple of his own division was insulted and wronged under his eyes!

“I’ll take you to get a trial!” Gu Ruyu spoke.

“Let’s forget about this matter for now.” Yin Changge frowned and reluctantly stepped back half a step. “The assessment is just around the corner, if Ah Hen completely offends Ying Guanchao because of this, I think he is bound to do something more excessive. Moreover…”

“And what?” Yan Tianhen’s eyes almost turned red with anger.

“Moreover, Ying Guanchao privately warned me at that time, saying that if I just endured this, the grudge would be settled after I left the sect, but if I dared to tell others… they would use any method to try to kill Shen Congrong.”

This kind of intimidation and coercion may be useless to others, but it was really easy to threaten Yin Changge, who came from a small village and had no status, no power, and no backing. After all, Ying Guanchao was a disciple of a big family of the capital, with noble status. Even if he had to hold back because he was in the sect, as long as they passed the examination this year and they could go out to perform tasks, wouldn’t that just give Ying Guanchao a chance to take action against them?

Moreover, Ying Guanchao didn’t need to do it himself; there were people willing to kill for him. Yin Changge considered all this and chose to bear it patiently for various reasons.

“His bullying is going too far!” Yan Tianhen clenched his fist and said, “I’ll definitely squeeze him to death!”

“You can’t have really believed it?” Shen Qinghe couldn’t help laughing, looking at Yin Changge, who hung his head and couldn’t see clearly, and said, “Don’t be silly. Ying Guanchao knows Shen Congrong is powerful, however you are weak and easy to bully, so he would play you like this. You didn’t really think that if you promised this, Ying Guanchao will really not take any action and a few years later, this account with you and Shen Congrong will be settled and forgotten?”

“At least I won’t annoy him.” Yan Changge frankly said.

“Enough!” Yan Tianhen was furious and said, “Does Shen Congrong know about this?”

Yin Changge replied, “Naturally, he doesn’t know, and you guys should never tell him.”

Yan Tianhen looked around, “Where is Shen Congrong?”

Gu Ruyu said, “After drawing his card, he already left.”

Yin Changge said: “He has come to a few realizations about the sword path recently. When he finds the time, he would go to seclusion and practice his swordsmanship. He is not willing to waste any bit of his time on side matters.”

Yan Tianhen angrily said, “Are you considered a side matter? You think and consider so much about him, but has he ever taken you to heart?”

From Yan Tianhen’s point of view, Shen Congrong was just a goddamned heartbreaker.

Yin Changge faintly said, “He really hasn’t ever taken me to heart. When he saved my life, he did it out of convenience with no extra effort needed, not out of personal feelings. Not to mention… These matters are my own choices and have nothing to do with him.”

“You–” Yan Tianhen held back, feeling like he was resentful for iron not being steel, he held out his finger and pressed not lightly and not strongly on Yin Changge’s forehead and said, “What you said is reasonable, but it still pisses me off. No, it’s not allowed, I have to get revenge on him today. He even dared to touch the people by my side. He doesn’t want to live anymore!”

When Gu Ruyu saw that he was angry, he blocked his way and said, “There are too many people here right now. If you want to punish him, might as well wait until your assessment is over.”

Yan Tianhen narrowed, his eyes turned around dangerously, and said, “I can’t wait for that long, but there are indeed quite a lot of people here… When is the next time you will go to the Demonic Beast Garden for duty?”

Yin Changge said, “It will be tomorrow.”

Yan Tianhen took a deep breath, scheduled it in his mind, and said, “Then we will wait until tomorrow to deal with everything.”

After all, Lin Xuanzhi was still here, and he seemed to be in a good mood today. Yan Tianhen naturally didn’t want to do anything that would make him unhappy in front of him.

Afterwards, although Yan Tianhen wasn’t in a good mood, but because Lin Xuanzhi didn’t leave, he naturally wanted to stay here. Although the two of them were quite far away, and couldn’t say anything, however seeing their sweetheart from a distance was a pleasant thing to both the heart and the mind.

The lottery continued.

Not after long, it was Longyao Lingguang’s turn.

It’s unknown if Longyao Lingguang should be considered lucky or not — as soon as he drew, he drew East Courtyard’s Xuan Ziyun. Speaking of Xuan Ziyun, Yan Tianhen had never dealt with him, but because he was born to the Xuan family, he paid more attention to him. Moreover, Yan Tianhen had met him when Shen Congrong was sentenced to trial.

Xuan Ziyun had always disliked taking part in any kind of battle, and he was an extremely lazy person. If he could sit he would never stand, if he could lie down he would never sit, and if he didn’t have to practice swords, he wouldn’t practice swords. He never accepted any commissions, and never went outside to train or gain experience. He simply enjoyed flowers and petted dogs every day.

However, it was precisely such a person who was the head of the sword path in the East Courtyard, and the only one in the four courtyards who crushed several swordsmen in the North Courtyard and tied with Yan Huanyu in the last assessment.

“Prince, is there any need to find Xuan Ziyun’s previous battle record?” The valet who entered school along with Longyao Lingguang asked in a low voice.