Chapter 19: Feast for the Eyes

Fang Che clasped his fist in an earnest salute as he thanked Mo Ganyun for the battle, then stepped down from the platform, displaying remarkable stability in his footsteps, considering what he had just endured.

He channeled his Boundless Sutra, circulating his spirit qi through the meridians in his legs over and over again to aid in his recovery.

He accepted the cloak handed to him by Fang Qingyun, then draped it over his shoulders and situated himself among the spectators, clearly intending to watch the other battles.

It seemed that the violent clashes he had just endured hadn't taken a toll on him at all, and it quickly became clear why Mo Ganyun had conceded.

However, even though he had lost the battle, no one dared to look down on him. Instead, he had won a great deal of admiration, even in defeat.

***

For the fourth round, Jing Shuanggao received a bye, but for everyone else, the battles were starting to heat up.

Ding Jieran and the others were no longer able to win with just a single attack, and in the end, the top seven emerged, consisting of Fang Che, Ding Jieran, Qiu Yunshang, Huo Churan, Xie Gongping, Jing Shuanggao, and an unexpected name in Yu Zhongge.

Yu Zhongge was the eleventh seed, yet he was quickly emerging as a bit of a dark horse.

The next round would whittle the field down from seven to four, so someone was going to benefit from another bye.

It was getting to the pointy end of the tournament, and everyone was frantically placing bets.

Fang Che had displayed his potential to everyone through his battle, and he was now also considered among the hot favorites.

However, the betting station had closed!

The instructors had deemed it too late to place bets at this point, considering there were only seven contestants left.

A chorus of anguished groans rang out in response to this announcement.

With the betting station closed, some people’s losses had been set in stone as the people that they had bet on had already been eliminated.

A referee approached Fang Che and asked, "Are you good to go?"

"I am," Fang Che replied with a smile.

"Don't force yourself."

"I'm not."

"Alright then."

With that, the referee declared that the quarterfinal round was to take place after dinner.

Fang Che cast his gaze toward Mo Ganyun.

He felt as if he had just kicked a steel rod several hundred times with each leg. The pain was excruciating, but he had endured it.

Even if his shin had been fractured, as long as it wasn't completely snapped, he would've continued kicking had the outcome of the battle not been decided.

Mo Ganyun's legs were extremely hard, but Fang Che had superior technique and was also superior in cultivation base as Mo Ganyun was only a third-rank Warrior Master.

Even so, it had still been a very painful battle. Thankfully, his injuries were mostly healed by now.

Mo Ganyun met Fang Che's gaze, then burst into laughter before making his way toward him.His pant legs were still rolled up, revealing the horrific condition that his shins were in.

He slung an arm across Fang Che's shoulder as if they were close friends, then asked, "Don't tell me you're not hurting."

"I won, so even if it hurts, I have to pretend that it doesn't," Fang Che replied in an expressionless manner.

Mo Ganyun burst into laughter once again, much to the surprise of those who were familiar with him.

They had never seen him laugh this much before.

"You better give it your all out there!" Mo Ganyun said as he pointed at Huo Churan and the others with no attempt at discreteness whatsoever. "I can tell these guys aren't used to fighting fire with fire. Just force them into a few direct collisions, and they'll be seeing stars in no time!"

This was not untrue.

There weren't many people on the entire continent capable of replicating what Fang Che and Mo Ganyun had just done.

Ding Jieran was standing alone, displaying no reaction as if he hadn't heard Mo Ganyun at all.

Even though he was standing among a crowd of people, he seemed completely alone.

Huo Churan and the others turned to glare at Mo Ganyun over his rude remarks, and Mo Ganyun glared back at them as he challenged, "The hell are you looking at? You wanna throw some hands?"

They turned away and rolled their eyes.

The quarterfinals were going to commence soon, only an idiot would pick a fight with Mo Ganyun now!

However, Qiu Yunshang's gaze lingered on Mo Ganyun as he said, "Let's fight after the tournament!"

"Deal!" Mo Ganyun declared.

The draw commenced, and once again, Fang Che was up first.

His quarterfinal opponent was none other than Ding Jieran!

This was the second mission target that he had encountered in the tournament.

The draw continued, and in the end, it was Yu Zhongge who was blessed with a bye, much to his relief.

Given how strong the rest of the field was, it was an invaluable bye.

Fang Che turned to Ding Jieran with a friendly smile as he greeted, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Brother Ding. I hope you have a good rest, and I look forward to facing you this afternoon."

Ding Jieran faltered slightly upon hearing this, clearly not expecting Fang Che to be so friendly, and in the end, all he could muster up as a response was: "You too."

He then turned and departed without another word.

Fang Che was rather taken aback.

It seemed that he had met someone even more sparing with their words than himself.

Everyone quickly dispersed, but Fang Che was caught by Fang Qingyun and dragged to the academy cafeteria before he could go home.

They were accompanied by four ecstatic female students and eight sullen male students.

"Did you guys lose again?" Fang Qingyun asked in a sympathetic manner.

"Yep...."

"We all bet on Mo Ganyun."

Fang Che was rendered speechless upon hearing this, but at the same time, he could understand the decision. After all, Mo Ganyun had put on a much better showing throughout the tournament than himself.

It seemed that all of the boys had placed their eggs in one basket, only for the basket to fall and the eggs to shatter.

"You hid your true power way too well, Fang Che! You should've at least tipped us off..." the eight male students complained.

"Have you seen the competition I'm up against?" Fang Che asked in an exasperated manner. "There's no guarantee that you would've won by betting on me. We're all new students here, no one has any absolute advantage over the others."

"I guess that's true."

Before long, their food was brought to their table, and the eight male students went on a grief-driven feast, stuffing their mouths to distract themselves from their sorrow.

They patted Fang Qingyun on the shoulder as they ate. "Brother Fang, we'll be in your care for the rest of the year."

"You guys bet your food money as well?" Fang Qingyun exclaimed.

The eight of them nodded with sour expressions, and one of them flipped their empty pockets inside-out to indicate their absolute poverty, much to the amusement of the female students.

"Who did you all bet on, Senior Sister Liu?" Fang Che asked.

"We've been betting on you from the very beginning, so we're rolling in dough right now!" Liu Xueyun declared in a proud manner.

"I'm impressed," Fang Che remarked. "I've been hiding my strength this entire time, yet all of you still saw the potential in me."

"Well, not really," Liu Xueyun admitted. "We didn't actually think you'd win, we were just hoping to see more of your face. We'll have plenty of chances to hang out together in the future, and we'd be too embarrassed to do that if we didn't bet on you."

The other girls nodded in agreement. "You're definitely a sight for sore eyes. I feel like I can eat an extra half-bowl of rice just looking at you!"

"I can eat an entire extra bowl!"

Fang Che was flabbergasted to hear this.

"Besides, we didn't bet much anyway, so even if we lost, it would've been like paying for a feast for the eyes," another one of the female students said.

Fang Che: "......"

Fang Qingyun treated everyone to a lavish meal, complete with demon beast meat and spirit-qi-replenishing congee.

Fang Che was shocked to hear that the meal only cost two merit points.

"How much did you think it was going to be?" Fang Qingyun asked. "Merit points don't grow on trees! If I didn't want to treat you to a good meal before the next round, two merit points would've been enough to feed all of us for an entire week!"

"This sure is some valuable currency!" Fang Che exclaimed.

***

Before long, it was time for the quarterfinals to begin, and Fang Che was first up.

He was dressed in usual gold-embroidered black cloak, which was gently rippling in the wind.

After witnessing Fang Che's battle against Mo Ganyun, Ding Jieran knew better than to look down on him.

The two of them were facing each other on the platform, and Fang Che said, "Before we begin, I have something that I'd like to say, and I hope that you'll take a moment to listen, Brother Ding."

"Go ahead," Ding Jieran prompted as he raised an eyebrow.

"We are both among the cream of the crop of our cohort, and seeing as we are only fighting in a tournament arranged by the academy, there should be no bad blood between us. Would you agree, Brother Ding?"

"Of course."

"Hence, regardless of the outcome, I hope we can become friends. I hope we can spur on each other to improve and look out for one another in the future on the battlefield or in other times of peril!"

Fang Che was speaking with immense sincerity, and Ding Jieran's demeanor softened a little as he nodded in response. "Likewise."

His expression was very stiff and inexpressive, and he was clearly not one to waste any more words than necessary.

At this moment, he was smiling in response to Fang Che's offer, and even though it was very forced and unnatural, this was already the friendliest expression he was capable of mustering.