Chapter Ninety-Seven: Unprovoked Provocation

Soon enough, the weekend had come around again. Since his current part-time work was hunting, his schedule had shifted to Sunday daylight hours, so on Saturday night Luo Chen, as usual, cultivated in the trial grounds.

Inside a trial chamber, numerous black leather spheres were suspended from iron rods. Standing at the center of their arrangement, Luo Chen threw out rapid, forceful punches, smashing the spheres away one after another. The rods drew them back, and like pendulums they rebounded along fixed trajectories, only to strike at him again, whereupon they were sent flying once more.

Pendulum ball training was one of the common advanced practice devices. Each sphere weighed about twenty catties. Once the routine began, the trainee could not allow a single ball to stop moving, and each rebounding sphere had to be struck back to a certain height and into the sensing zone. Too near or too far, and the system would register failure.

The difficulty of this training could be adjusted. Fewer balls meant a lower difficulty; more balls, a higher one.

Few year-one students would dare train with fifteen balls at once. Only the elite students of the key class, and the better performers from the ordinary classes, could endure that level.

Fifteen spheres danced through the air, dazzling the eye and leaving one with no time to breathe. No one knew how long passed before a sharp beeping sounded. One of the balls lacked sufficient force and failed to reach the sensing zone, and all the pendulum sandbags quickly came to a stop, marking the end of the session.

"Hah... hah..."

Luo Chen collapsed onto the training floor, gasping hard, but his heart was filled with excitement. After breaking through to level five spirit energy, his progress had indeed been significant. He could actually keep going for so long with fifteen balls now, and after mastering the state of mind and body as one, his force control had become much more precise.

The place Luo Chen was in now was Blue Emperor Academy's paid trial grounds. The ordinary trial grounds did not have advanced equipment like pendulum balls.

Advanced training equipment really was excellent. Beyond increasing intensity, it could also train reaction speed and force control. Luo Chen had started using the paid trial grounds two weeks earlier, because hunting each week now earned him far more than his old part-time job at Weston Academy had. After covering daily expenses, he still had some left over, enough for the occasional visit to the paid trial grounds. The equipment in the ordinary trial grounds could only ensure training intensity; it could not refine technique or force control. And force control had become one of Luo Chen's key studies lately, so that when he unleashed his Radiant Starburst, he would not consume too much spirit energy at once.

After reaching level five, the quality and quantity of his spirit energy had both improved considerably. Luo Chen checked the time. It was nearly twelve-thirty. The trial chamber charged by the hour: one silver coin for three hours. His three hours were already up, so the program would not start again. He could not continue unless he paid for another hour, and Luo Chen was not willing to.

This trial room had another advantage: no one would disturb him, so he could perform breathing cultivation. Of course, most people would not do it twice in one day; the efficiency of a second session was far too low.

But Luo Chen was different. His breathing method was highly unusual. He stood up at once and began a second session, continuing until his spiritual qi had been replenished to roughly full. Only then did he leave the paid trial grounds and head to the ordinary trial grounds outside, intending to use up the rest of his strength before returning to the dormitory.

It was close to midnight, but because it was the weekend, the ordinary trial grounds, vast enough to span several soccer fields, still had quite a few people in them, all sweating profusely as they practiced. Studying at Blue Emperor Academy was a blessing, but the pressure there was formidable as well.

Luo Chen found a training device and had only just begun when he heard footsteps approaching. At first he thought it was another student passing by, but he soon noticed something odd: the owner of the footsteps came near him, then split off into three directions, encircling him in a triangular formation.

Luo Chen immediately understood that these people were here for him.

There were three in total. One wore fine clothes and carried himself with great arrogance. He looked somewhat familiar, and Luo Chen quickly remembered him: a boy from Class One of the first year. Luo Chen was in Class Three, and the two classes were not far apart, sharing the same stairwell, so their students often ran into one another.

Luo Chen also knew that boy's name was Raphael. He was the sort of person who liked to throw his weight around at the academy. Once, on the stairs, Luo Chen had seen him say another student was in the way and shove him aside hard. That student had been angry, but dared not speak up.

The other two boys, one fat and one thin, were unfamiliar faces. They probably were not from Class One.

Seeing that the group had ill intentions, Luo Chen stopped training. At that moment, the Class One boy spoke first.

"Heh, Luo Chen, you've certainly got a lot of airs. We've been waiting for you outside for hours."

Luo Chen frowned. "What do you want?"

The heavier boy said, "Your luck's pretty good. Our big brother Raphael wants to spar with you."

From his tone, the Class One student was clearly the leader, while the other two were his followers.

Spar? In other words, they were picking a fight. Friendly sparring did not come with such a domineering attitude.

Luo Chen said coldly, "Sorry, I'm not interested."

The thin boy snapped, "Luo Chen, don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Our Ra..."

Before he could finish, Raphael cut him off and stepped forward. "Luo Chen, listen. I can't be bothered with any more nonsense. I'm here to make one thing clear: if you want to pursue Zhuo Yuqing from our class, you should first piss on the mirror and take a good look at yourself."

Raphael was only an ordinary student in Class One, but he was a native of Miracle City and his family had some background. He thought highly of himself and often bullied others by virtue of his connections at Blue Emperor Academy. He had long disliked Luo Chen, because Luo Chen not only had a close relationship with Alicia and Joanna, but also enjoyed the special favor of the girl Raphael had been infatuated with, Zhuo Yuqing. Jealousy had long since set his heart ablaze. Tonight, having finally found an opening, he intended to humiliate Luo Chen thoroughly, and at the same time show off his own authority before the school beauty.

Luo Chen had no interest in Zhuo Yuqing, but to be insulted without reason still stirred his anger. He held it down for the moment, but because of these mad dogs he could no longer remain in the trial grounds. Without another word, he turned and left.

Yet the fat and thin pair immediately blocked his way.

Raphael came up from behind and said, "When someone speaks to you, don't you know how to answer? No manners at all. As expected of a wild bastard without parents."

Wild bastard?

At that word, Luo Chen's fury surged violently. He could tolerate Raphael insulting him, but he could not tolerate his parents being insulted.

There are things in everyone's heart that no one else may trample. Luo Chen was no different. Though he had no taste for violence, if someone insulted the parents who had died protecting him, then that was an affront to the dragon's reverse scale.

His fists clenched instantly.

"Raphael, you said you wanted to spar, didn't you? Then I'll oblige you."

The words had barely fallen before Luo Chen whirled around and hurled a punch at Raphael, astral force bursting over his fist in an instant.

Raphael was stunned. He had already expected Luo Chen to make a move, but he had not imagined that Luo Chen would gather force so quickly, with no sign at all of spiritual energy circulation, and unleash a first-tier combat skill, Adamantine Fist.

He hastily raised his arm to block, yet was sent stumbling back several steps. His heart jolted in shock, because even if Luo Chen had struck first and seized the initiative, the heaviness of that punch was nothing like what a level-four spirit energy user should produce. Moreover, Luo Chen had just spent so long training in the paid trial grounds; his condition should have been greatly diminished.

What surprised Raphael even more came next.

Luo Chen strode forward and struck with a second-tier combat skill, Great Hand Seal. Raphael was forced back several more steps. Before he could even steady himself, Luo Chen had already leaped into the air and brought a heavy kick down from below.

Fifteen percent whirlpool overpressure, second-tier combat skill—Stone-Breaking Kick!

With a thunderous impact, Raphael, whose defenses were almost entirely gone, was kicked clean off his feet and crashed to the trial floor.

That clean, efficient series of blows was the very embodiment of Luo Chen's progress through hunting. Since breaking through to level four and mastering mind and body as one, everything had become even more effortless.

Landing lightly, Luo Chen looked down with utter contempt and slowly spat out two words.

"Trash."

The whole thing had happened far too suddenly. Only after Raphael had been kicked flying did the fat and thin lackeys finally react, invoking their agility technique as they charged at Luo Chen.

Raphael sprang up from the ground, roaring in rage. "Stop! All of you, get the hell out of my way!"

His whole body trembled with fury. He was an elite from the key class, yet he had been brought down by a student from an ordinary class, and now he would need a group attack to win. How was he supposed to show his face after this?