While Tang Jie had been training in the Seven Celestial Halls, Wei Tianchong hadn't been sitting idle. Rather, following Tang Jie's plan, he had been practicing his spells and choosing opponents that could maximize his chances of victory.
Recently, Wei Tianchong had been growing more proficient with his spells and more experienced in combat, so his cowardice had begun to fade away, allowing him to express more and more of his strength.
Among the four-cycle-Jade-Gate students, he had been in the middle of the pack, and since he was the young master of a great clan, he had the support of resources. So long as he was willing to put in the effort, it would be quite normal for him to be able to enter the top five hundred.
With the puppet Tang Jie had helped him make and the strategy that had been designed for him, he had been able to progress even further. Thus, he had recently managed to push his way into the top three hundred.
Though he still wasn't able to hit the top five, it was a fact that he was progressing quickly. There were even many students who knew that this fat kid and his "dog" were rather difficult to deal with.
But it was precisely for this reason that Wei Tianchong had created a problem for himself.
As he was targeting opponents, Wei Tianchong was familiar with many of his opponents and would often run into them during the spars.
A few days ago, Wei Tianchong had fought with a group of students, and one of them had been unlucky enough to match with Wei Tianchong three times in a row. The outcome was obvious.
That student had probably been enraged by Wei Tianchong's shameless fighting style. Unable to win or avoid him, he elected for a vicious move.
Wei Tianchong hugged Tang Jie and wept, drenching Tang Jie's shoulder.
Tang Jie couldn't help but scowl.
Though the wolf puppet was somewhat weak defensively, it was extremely agile and wasn't easy to attack unless it was specifically targeted.
Although the Divine Battleground's sparring didn't forbid students from attacking puppets, these were still very valuable things, and there was no need to break someone's rice bowl. To still attack it even after a concession was too much.
Tang Jie grunted, "Who was it? Tell me."
"Qiu Jing, Han Zhe, Ye Xing, Zhong Han, and Li Huaihai. The five of them are all in cahoots. That Qiu Jing is their leader, Ye Xing was the one who smashed my puppet, and Li Huaihai came up with the idea. After smashing my puppet, they laughed at me, saying that I was nothing without my puppet…" Wei Tianchong grew sadder the more he talked about it.
Tang Jie was rendered almost speechless by his appearance. All he could say was, "Why are you crying? You're a man! Isn't it just a broken puppet? Just make another one."
"That's easy for you to say! Two thousand spirit coins! It wasn't easy for my mom to get me this money. You think my Wei Clan's silver drops out of the sky?" Wei Tianchong sobbed.
"Well, hearing this from you is quite new and fresh. You're actually starting to get concerned over your clan," Tang Jie chuckled.
Wei Tianchong was going to keep arguing when Tang Jie patted him on the shoulder. "Alright, alright, I'll help you deal with this. Right, did you bring the broken puppet back with you?"
Wei Tianchong nodded. "It's all in pieces now, but I saw that the materials were still good, so I'm wondering if it can be put back together and used again."
"That's the way!" Tang Jie said, greatly relieved. "Young Master, it seems like you've learned how to handle yourself."
Wei Tianchong awkwardly scratched his head. Tang Jie pulled on him and said, "Come on!"
"Where else? To help you get revenge. They bullied my young master, so I have to help you vent your anger!"
Tang Jie pulled Wei Tianchong to the sparring ground.
At the sparring ground, Tang Jie asked, "Which ones are Qiu Jing and Ye Xing?"
Wei Tianchong pointed at several students. "The tall and thin one is Qiu Jing while the short and fat one is Ye Xing. The one with the yellow face is Li Huaihai, and next to him are Han Zhe and Zhong Han. The rest are their servant students." ṞáŊŎ𝐛ĘⱾ
Tang Jie looked over, and it just so happened that those students were looking back.
Upon seeing Wei Tianchong and Tang Jie come in, that Ye Xing loudly laughed. "Look! That coward came back, and he brought a servant student."
"Isn't that Tang Jie?"
"So he's Tang Jie! This kid got the Sword Classic's legacy but didn't come to the sparring ground, instead running off to the Seven Celestial Halls every day. I didn't expect him to come forward today. Is it all because of that kid?"
"Hmph, someone so cowardly can be said to be coming forward?" Several students scoffed in disdain.
Tang Jie had not come to the sparring ground all this time, and there were already rumors going around on the campus.
Some people said that he hadn't actually managed to memorize any spell arts from the Sword Classic, thus wasting the chance, and so he did not dare to come to the sparring ground.
Other people said that the Sword Classic's spell arts were too difficult to practice, and his lack of success had delayed his progress, making him afraid to enter the sparring ground.
Others said that he was like a cowardly mouse, fearful of pain and death, so even with supreme spell arts, he did not dare to come out.
In any case, Tang Jie didn't dare to come!
Some busybodies had ranked this class's students, and Tang Jie had initially been ranked in the top twenty.
But as Tang Jie refused to appear while other students displayed their formidable combat prowess, Tang Jie slid all the way into the top fifty, and then the top one hundred, and finally, he couldn't even be found in the top three hundred.
At this point, nobody took Tang Jie seriously, so they mocked Wei Tianchong and Tang Jie to their hearts' content.
Tang Jie was not angry about this, softly chuckling. "It's quite a lot of people. Five young masters and twelve servant students… good, very good!"
He walked to the other side.
"Where are you going?" Wei Tianchong asked.
"I'm taking part in the sparring, of course. If I don't spar, how can I beat those guys up?" Tang Jie replied.
"But the opponents are decided by random draw!" Wei Tianchong shouted.
"Then I'll just fight a few rounds. I'll pull them eventually," Tang Jie lightly replied.
Wei Tianchong almost fainted.
Just fight a few rounds? Was he joking?
Was he going to fight all the way until he ran into Qiu Jing and company? Wasn't he worried about running out of strength and spiritual energy?
But Tang Jie really did go.
There was a lot-drawing room on the sparring ground. Before taking part in the sparring, students had to register their point cards, which would record their information and results. The lot-drawing room had students tasked with using the sparring results to partition the students by strength. When lots were drawn, those with somewhat similar results would be placed together, so there was a higher chance that they would draw each other as opponents.
Tang Jie entered the lot-drawing room. The student in charge was called Zhao Shuxin. He recognized Tang Jie and asked, "It's been quite some time since I've seen you. Have you come to ask for information again?"
Tang Jie replied, "No, I've come to spar."
Zhao Shuxin heartily laughed. "You've finally decided to participate. A lot of people have come looking for you lately."
Tang Jie chuckled. "I'm sure there are many people who can't wait, but they'll get their turn eventually."
Tang Jie handed over ten spirit coins and softly said, "Help me out here and let me get matched with Qiu Jing and Ye Xing's group."
Zhao Shuxin was taken aback at first, and then he realized what was going on. He took the money and whispered, "So you've come to take revenge for your young master, but you've just arrived. If I had you match with them immediately, it wouldn't seem very convincing."
"It's fine. I'll fight a few rounds first."
"Alright, then I'll make the arrangements. This happens to be your first day taking part, so you don't have a rating and I can match you with whoever I want, but after today, you won't get this chance. Right, Qiu Jing's group has a win percentage of forty-one percent, and their rating is average."
"Understood." Tang Jie smiled and patted Zhao Shuxin. "Thank you, Brother."
Zhao Shuxin had already pulled a lot for him. "He Xinping, Room D2. Take his lot to win. Remember: no killing allowed."
These last words were standard.
Tang Jie went straight to Room D2. A few moments later, that student called He Xinping entered. His eyes brightened when he saw Tang Jie. "So it was Mad Student Tang Jie. I didn't think that you would still dare come to the sparring ground. Do you know how many people…"
He wanted to say more, but Tang Jie walked up and said, "Where did all this useless talk come from?"
He punched at He Xinping, who hadn't expected him to start fighting so soon. He wanted to block, but Tang Jie moved so quickly that all he saw was Tang Jie's fist rapidly expanding in front of his eyes.
Boom! He Xinping went flying out, and his eyes rolled over as he fell unconscious.
Tang Jie took his lot and returned to the lot-drawing room.
Zhao Shuxin saw Tang Jie coming back and asked in shock, "Why did you come back?"
Zhao Shuxin's mouth dropped in disbelief. It took Tang Jie prompting him to hurry up before he came to his senses and pulled another lot for Tang Jie. He asked, "You don't need to rest a little?"
"No need. I'm short on time."
He took the lot and entered the room. This time, he didn't give his opponent even the chance to speak. He used the Violet Lightning Lunge and sent his opponent flying with a single punch.
He fought three matches in a row , knocking down three students before they even had a chance to cast a spell.
One student was unconvinced. After losing, he shouted on the training area, "What sort of way of fighting is this? Like the fighting of some village brute!"
Tang Jie jeered, "So you're saying that you can't even beat a village brute?"
The student immediately shut up while everyone laughed.
Another student shouted, "Everyone, be careful. Tang Jie is extremely cunning. He didn't give any of us the chance to fight back. When exchanging blows with him, you must be cautious. Don't get caught by surprise by his sneak attack!"
"Truly, the servant student takes after the master. That Wei Tianchong was a slippery fellow who only knew how to run, and this Tang Jie only does sneak attacks, only knowing how to punch people. This master and servant are truly wretches!"
Another student shouted, "Tang Jie is coming! Tang Jie is coming!"
Some student with nothing else to do notified the other students who were itching to beat up Tang Jie and had not yet gotten a chance.
Tang Jie was still fighting. The fourth student was much more cautious. Upon entering the room, he said nothing, first releasing a shield.
He saw Tang Jie charge over and savagely punch the shield. The shield rippled and let out a brilliant light when Tang Jie punched it, but it didn't shatter. The student was scared at first, but then he heartily laughed, "Haha, you…"
He had barely gotten out three syllables when Tang Jie's fist came down again on the shield. Pop! The shield shattered, and the fist collided with his face.
The student's vision went dark, and he collapsed to the ground.