Chapter 49: Fanning the Flames

Ye Meng was putting on a show of fear and timidity as she clutched her shovel with trembling hands.

Blood was still flowing incessantly out of the necks of the three headless bodies...

"What're you standing there for? Hurry up and get to work!" Fang Che snapped.

Ye Meng shuddered as she began to dig, and before long, she was sweating profusely.

Even though she was putting on an act, her reaction wasn't entirely fake. She had killed people in the past, but only in battle, where she never had time to dwell on her actions, and she had never been in such close proximity to dead bodies.

With her trembling hands and weak knees, she was making absurdly slow progress in her digging.

Fang Che couldn't help but heave an exasperated sigh. Sometimes, he was struck by the urge to expose her so that she would drop the act.

He grabbed a shovel as well, and with his help, a hole that was over ten feet deep and large enough to fit the three bodies was quickly dug out.

He kicked the bodies into the hole, then tossed in large handfuls of a medicinal powder that he had exchanged from the academy.

The bodies instantly began to dry out at a rate discernible to the naked eye.

After that, he quickly filled the hole before jumping up and down a few times to compact the soil.

"Go buy a few spirit fruit trees tomorrow and plant them here. If there are any more bodies, bury them here as well," Fang Che instructed.

Ye Meng turned to him with a confused and horrified expression.

"What're you looking at me like that for? These bodies are filled with spirit qi, so they'll act as perfect fertilizer for spirit fruit trees."

Ye Meng had to suppress the urge to throw up.

"Once the spirit fruits ripen, I'll have you eat them every day! Imagine how sweet and fragrant they'll be!"

That was enough to push Ye Meng over the edge, and she emptied out the contents of her stomach.

Meanwhile, both Qian Sanjiang and Fan Tiantiao were observing the proceedings with relieved looks on their faces.

Fan Tiantiao remained in the neighboring manor, while Qian Sanjiang quickly vanished into the night.

The next morning, Fang Che arrived at the academy with a pouch containing three boxes in his hand.

There was cold killing intent radiating from his entire body, and he had decided that he had to fan the flames a little more.

Blood was dripping down incessantly from the bottom of the pouch, leaving a trail of red in his wake, and as opposed to going to his own classroom, Fang Che went straight to the eleventh class.

A lesson was already underway, and the instructor turned to Fang Che as he asked, "Can I help you?"

"I have a question to ask Huo Churan."

"What do you want to ask?" the instructor asked in a displeased manner, clearly under the impression that Fang Che was here to pick on Huo Churan again.

Fang Che untied the pouch, then laid out the three boxes one by one before opening them to reveal a trio of decapitated heads.

At the same time, three identity jade tablets and flame symbols were tossed onto Huo Churan's desk.

"These people look familiar to you?" Fang Che asked in a cold voice.

Huo Churan sprang up out of his chair as his complexion instantly turned deathly pale.

The instructor immediately realized what must've happened, and a solemn and infuriated look appeared on his face.

The entire class erupted into chatter as they looked back and forth between Fang Che and Huo Churan.

"Huo Churan," Fang Che called out, and his voice was quite calm, but it was the type of foreboding calmness often witnessed before the most violent storms.

Everyone felt a sense of pressure descend upon them.

"We've had our scuffles of late, but have I ever tried to kill you? These people stormed into my room in the dead of night to make an attempt on my life! If it wasn't for the fact that a senior of mine just so happened to have been visiting me, I would already be dead by now! Why would you do this?!"

Fang Che was putting on an act of justified fury and indignation to give himself the moral high ground.

Huo Churan stared blankly at the three heads, and his mind was just as blank as his gaze.

One of the three heads belonged to his uncle, and the other two were also important figures in the Huo Clan.

As an eighth-tier clan, the Huo Clan was far more powerful than the Fang Clan, but the loss of three Lesser Grandmasters at once was still an extremely heavy blow.

A fiery ball of rage was building in his chest.

Why did I do this?! You beat and humiliated me in front of so many people day after day, and you ask me why I did this?!

He wanted to scream and yell, but it was as if an obstructive lump had formed in his throat, and he could only stare at the three heads in silence.

Tears began to flow down his face, but they won him no sympathy.

Instead, all of his classmates were glowering at him with fury and derision.

This was a warrior academy, and fights between students were a common occurrence.

"How could you do this, Huo Churan?" one of his classmates yelled. "Fang Che has been picking on you, but this is a warrior academy! You should be striving to surpass him so that you can get back at him through your own strength, not sending people to assassinate him!"

"Fang Che made a sincere attempt at befriending you, but you humiliated him by scoffing at his offer in front of tens of thousands of people, and now, you try to kill him?! What if one of us injures you in a sparring match? Are we going to have assassins come after us as well?"

Before long, the entire class had turned on Huo Churan.

In their eyes, Huo Churan had done something unforgivable. A warrior academy was a place for battle, and all students were constantly sparring and fighting against one another, yet Huo Churan had completely stepped out of line here.

Huo Churan felt as if he were about to explode.

He really wanted to defend himself, to tell everyone not to judge him when they had never been in his position.

Do you know how I feel? Have any of you ever been humiliated like this before?

However, as his rage continued to build, his natural arrogance rose to the fore.

All of you are piling on me now that I'm down! If any of you were in my position, you'd do the exact same thing!

The combination of grief, fury, and indignation completely pushed him over the edge, and he roared, "Injure me in a sparring match? In your fucking dreams!"

This only further turned everyone against him.

"Indeed, we are not worthy," one of his classmates scoffed. "Fang Che is the only one who can beat you up, so you sent people to kill him!"

Huo Churan's breathing had become extremely labored and ragged, and his teeth were gnashing together audibly.

He had been spoiled from birth due to his exceptional aptitude, and even the Three Saints Church had chosen him as their seed.

As a result, he had become more and more arrogant and conceited, and the humiliation that he had suffered at the hands of Fang Che had driven him to the brink of insanity.

Those feelings were only further exacerbated by the sight of the three decapitated heads laid out before him, and in this moment, his mind was entirely taken over by his desire for vengeance!

His eyes were bloodshot with fury as he spat through gritted teeth, "Fang Che! This is unforgivable!"

"I'm the unforgivable one? So I should've just allowed myself to be killed, is that right?" Fang Che sneered.

Huo Churan let loose a guttural, animalistic roar. "You're not going to get away with this! I'm going to kill you!"

This was exactly the reaction that Fang Che wanted, and he turned to the instructor with a solemn expression as he said, "My apologies, but I'm going to have disrupt your lesson, Instructor."

The instructor heaved a faint sigh and left the classroom.

He had to allow Fang Che a chance at retaliation after Huo Churan's grave transgression.

By leaving without a word, the instructor was showing Fang Che a display of trust,, and in exchange, the unspoken expectation was that Fang Che would spare Huo Churan's life.

Fang Che took a deep breath as he rolled up his sleeves.

"You want revenge, don't you, Huo Churan? Well, here I am!"

He began kicking one of the heads on the ground as he spoke, remarking to himself, "He was useless in life, but at least I can use his head as a ball now that he's dead."

A look of deranged fury surfaced in Huo Churan's eyes as he watched Fang Che kicking his uncle's head back and forth like a toy.

A strangled roar erupted out of his throat as he launched himself at Fang Che with all his might.

Fang Che sprang forward just as eagerly, and the two of them clashed violently like a pair of feral beasts.

Huo Churan was lashing out wildly in fury, while Fang Che calmly dismantled all of his attacks and quickly gained the upper hand.

"Fang Che! I'm going to kill you! I..."

Huo Churan's voice was abruptly cut off as he was dealt a punch to the nose, breaking it for the nth time.

From there, it was a one-sided pummeling, and Fang Che's fists rained down incessantly upon Huo Churan like a pair of sledgehammers, with the sounds of the brutal beating being administered punctuated only by Huo Churan's agonized howls and Fang Che's mocking jeers.

"You can't beat me, so you try to assassinate me! What a fucking genius you are! Your parents must be so proud!"