Chapter 44: What’s Wrong With Being Friends?

Finally, it was Huo Churan's turn.

He slammed his chopsticks down onto the table, then glowered up at Fang Che as he asked, "Are you here to pick a fight?"

"Shut your mouth!" Fang Che snapped. "I'm here to chat with an old friend! Did your parents not teach you that it's rude to butt in on conversations?"

Huo Churan rose to his feet with such force that the chair behind him was sent flying back.

"If it's a fight that you want, then I'll gladly oblige!"

"You want to fight me? What a joke! Have you even recovered from the last beating you took from me?" Fang Che scoffed.

This was clearly a sore spot for Huo Churan, and his fists were clenched in seething fury.

However, Fang Che paid no heed to him as he turned and slapped Wei Zihao across the face.

"Too busy sucking up to Huo Churan to talk to me now, is that it? Did you think I'd forgotten about that time you tried to rob me?"

Wei Zihao's complexion turned deathly pale upon hearing this, while looks of enlightenment appeared in the eyes of all of the other diners in the cafeteria.

Clearly, there was some history between the two.

"What are you talking about? Don't go around making false accusations!"

"False accusations? You're telling me you're not the one who sent those people to rob me in front of the forest last time? How about this? All you have to do is say: 'whoever sent those people to rob Fang Che in front of the forest last time, their entire clan is full of lowborn scum!' If you say that, then I'll let you off the hook!"

Wei Zihao naturally wasn't going to comply with such a demand.

"Why should I? You're being unreasonable!"

"How am I being unreasonable? Is that not a fair thing to say? If you say it, you'll be absolving yourself! Does someone who would do something so underhanded not deserve to be sneered at?"

Wei Zihao refused to comply.

"I fucking knew it was you!"

Fang Che kicked him in the chest, sending him flying into Huo Churan's table at just the right angle to fling Huo Churan's bowl up into his face.

No one had anticipated that Fang Che would lash out in the cafeteria, and Huo Churan was caught completely off guard, finding himself drenched in soup.

A piece of demon beast meat fell out of his hair and onto the ground.

Huo Churan sprang to his feet with a look of murderous fury in his eyes.

He had a very short temper to begin with, and he was no longer able to keep his cool.

Right at this moment, a ladle flew out of the kitchen before landing on the table with a loud clang.

"The cafeteria is a place for eating! If you have personal differences, settle them outside!"

At this point, it had become clear to everyone that the accusation levied by Fang Che against Wei Zihao was genuine, so it made sense that Fang Che was picking on him.

As for Huo Churan, everyone had seen what had happened during the new student tournament, and there was clearly bad blood there.

"I'm done eating! Let's take this outside!" Huo Churan snapped as he glowered intently at Fang Che.

"If you're done eating, then get out of here! I still have to eat! Have some class and quit raising your voice in the cafeteria!" Fang Che scoffed as he sat down at a table, which was already laden with food brought to him by Mo Ganyun.

Huo Churan and Wei Zihao were glowering at Fang Che as if they wanted to kill him with their eyes, and Huo Churan was unable to suppress the urge to give a cold harrumph.

"The hell's your problem?" Mo Ganyun snapped as he rose to his feet. "Something wrong with your nose? Should I punch it back into place for you?"

Mo Ganyun had been extremely envious as Fang Che laid on the abuse against Huo Churan and Wei Zihao.

He was from a more affluent clan, so he should've excelled far more when it came to picking on others, yet he was being completely outmatched here.

He was itching for an excuse to get involved.

Why didn't Wei Zihao try to rob me? Why didn't Huo Churan provoke me during the new student tournament?

That harrumph from Huo Churan had provided him with the perfect opportunity, one that he had eagerly pounced on.

If Huo Churan dared to so much as utter even a single word, Mo Ganyun would be able to get involved in the fun himself.

However, Huo Churan paid no heed to him and made his way out of the cafeteria with a steely look on his face.

"You're not gonna say anything? Hey, why are you walking away so quickly?"

Huo Churan and Wei Zihao were already far gone, leaving a frustrated Mo Ganyun in their wake.

Somehow, Mo Ganyun was feeling even more furious than Huo Churan.

"Don't worry about them. Let's eat," Fang Che consoled.

However, Mo Ganyun was inconsolable, and he picked up a large bone, then bit it into two with a loud crack to vent his frustration.

Meanwhile, all of the other diners were looking at Fang Che with surprised expressions.

They had thought that he would take things further, but he had deescalated the situation at the last minute.

After lunch, everyone had returned to their classrooms to cultivate, as was the tradition in the academy. All of the classrooms were fitted with formations that released an abundance of spirit qi for warriors beneath the Grandmaster tier to absorb, so the more time one could spend cultivating in their classroom, the better.

However, Fang Che only sat down to cultivate for a few minutes before leaving.

Mo Ganyun watched Fang Che leave, then thought about it for a moment before getting up to follow him.

He trailed along behind Fang Che to the classroom of the eleventh class, where Huo Chran and Wei Zihao were classmates.

It was still recess, so the instructors weren't present.

Fang Che strode over to the classroom, then violently kicked open the door without any hesitation.

The one hundred students inside turned to him in unison at the sound of the massive commotion.

"Are Wei Zihao and Huo Churan here?" Fang Che asked in a polite voice.

Word of the cafeteria incident had already spread far and wide, but no one had imagined that Fang Che would be so brazen as to come to their classroom to cause trouble.

Everyone was reminded of the vow that Fang Che had sworn during the new student tournament: "From this day forth, I will beat you to a pulp every time I see you, and if I don't see you, I will actively seek you out!"

Was he here to put his money where his mouth was.

Wei Zihao stood out like a sore thumb in the classroom due to his exceptionally dark complexion.

Fang Che didn't know why his complexion had turned so unnaturally dark, but that wasn't going to spare him from a beating.

Regardless of what trump cards Wei Zihao had up his sleeve, Fang Che would just have to beat them out of him.

"Wei Zihao! Huo Churan! Come out if you're men!" Fang Che challenged in an arrogant manner.

Of course, Wei Zihao didn't take the bait.

He was certainly not going to volunteer himself for a beating, so he remained in his chair with his head lowered.

Fortunately for him, Fang Che's target was Huo Churan. With that in mind, Fang Che decided to let him off the hook for now. In any case, they were going to be together for five years, so he would have plenty of opportunities to make Wei Zihao's life a living hell.

Meanwhile, Huo Churan was already stepping out of the classroom with a look of seething fury in his eyes.

He began charging toward Fang Che with an enraged roar, while Fang Che remained completely still on the spot.

A punch was thrown at his face, one that he comfortably blocked.

This was followed by a palm strike, which was also blocked with ease.

Then an elbow strike.

Blocked yet again.

An eye gouge.

Blocked.

A knee strike.

Blocked.

Both of them were moving extremely quickly, and in the blink of an eye, they had turned into a whirlwind of flailing limbs that were too fast to follow with the naked eye.

The exchanges were taking place at the entrance of the classroom, so they didn't dare to go all-out for fear of damaging school infrastructure, but their speed was still an awe-inspiring sight for all of the onlookers.

They could immediately tell that very few students in their year level could put on a display of speed and power of this level.

All of a sudden, a loud slap rang out, followed by a guttural roar from Huo Churan.

This was followed by the sound of another slap, which quickly turned into a dense string of slaps, each one punctuated by a furious roar from Huo Churan.

Blood began to splatter in all directions, even onto the faces of the students in the front row.

All of a sudden, a loud thump rang out as Huo Churan was sent stumbling back, while Fang Che sprang forward and aimed a cannonball-like knee strike into the chest of the retreating Huo Churan.

Huo Churan was sent flying before crashing into the wall, causing the entire building to tremble violently.

He bounced off the wall before clambering unsteadily to his feet with a pained groan, and at his point, he was sporting a pair of black eyes, his nose was broken, his cheeks were severely swollen, and his lips had also been split.

Blood was trickling down from the corners of his eyes and lips, as well as out of his nostrils and ears, while the entire class looked on in a stunned silence.

Huo Churan let loose a near-animalistic roar as he charged at Fang Che once again, only for Fang Che to casually slap his fist aside before using his other hand to slap Huo Churan across the face.

Huo Churan's head snapped to the side, and Fang Che grabbed him by the collar before raising his leg to block the oncoming knee strike.

A barrage of punches came raining down as he held Huo Churan aloft with one hand while punching him repeatedly in the face with the other, and some of the students were already wincing at the brutality of what they were witnessing.

Finally, the class captain stood up and yelled, "Stop! I understand that there's some bad blood between you two, but you're going to kill him if you keep this up!"

Fang Che released Huo Churan upon hearing this, allowing him to collapse to the ground like a limp noodle.

His eyes had swollen into narrow slits, but he was still glowering resentfully at Fang Che through his swollen eyelids.

Fang Che looked down at Huo Churan as he scoffed, "Why provoke me if you're so weak? Is this what you wanted? You must be a masochist!"

He spat onto Huo Churan's face, then snapped, "Don't you ever disrespect me again! What's wrong with being friends?"