They wanted to run out, but they knew they couldnât outrun Elder Mu even if they tried, and it would just prove their guilt. All they could do was stick to their lie and claim that they didnât do anything wrong. The only way they could escape was by pretending to be the victims and prove that Mu Lin was lying after he started blaming them in the future.
"What about him? Did he finally manage to achieve a breakthrough after a year and passed his bottleneck that had been troubling him?" Ruan Yi asked Mu Yun. "I somehow doubt that it would be the case."
Mu Yun looked towards Long Chen and sighed.
She shook her head. "Not yet."
"What Iâm here to talk about is his accident and his current condition that is a matter of concern. What happened yesterday was that he was attacked by some beast when he was outside the Temple. He was injured when he was brought back. Even though he was saved, he had lost all his memories. He canât remember anything, including me or his name," Mu Yun told Ruan Yi with a sad look on her face.
"He lost his memories?" The three girls muttered as they started feeling elation in their hearts. They couldnât help but breathe in relief, knowing that they were saved.
"He doesnât remember anything? What about the cultivation stuff?" Ruan Yi inquired.
"Other than some basic things, he doesnât remember anything. I tried asking him. He doesnât remember any of his skills either," Mu Yun replied.
"No skills either? Why did you bring him here then? Iâm not going to teach him anything from the start. I have more things to do," Ruan Yi let out. "Take him back."
"I donât want you to teach him from the start either. I want him to attend the classes and live life as he did before yesterday. Only when some resemblance of normalcy returns to his life can he remember everything. Thatâs what Elder Gu declared. I donât care what you have to do, heâs attending this class, and youâre going to make it an everyday experience for the day. Iâll be back in the evening," Mu Yun told Ruan Yi before she looked towards Long Chen.
"You used to sit in the front. Go sit there, love. Elder Ruan will begin the lecture soon," Mu Yun told Long Chen as she pointed towards an empty seat.
Long Chen walked towards the seat. He couldnât help but glance towards the three girls that had killed Mu Lin. His single glance was enough to make their heartbeat stop for an instant.
His glance was only for a brief second before it shifted to other people. He sat on the seat.
Mu Yun nodded her head and glanced back at Ruan Yi.
"Be nice to him," She told her before she left.
Mu Yun walked out of the arena, sat on her Dark Soul Eagle, and flew away.
Ruan Yi looked towards Long Chen before she closed her eyes again. It seemed like she had started meditation again.
âI know now that the class hasnât started yet, so it canât be a meditation class. No other Disciple is doing it. Is it that she is waiting for the right time? Some people do have a habit of always being punctual. She might be one of those people,â Long Chen thought as he glanced at Ruan Yi.
Mi Lao was the person that had choked him, and there were only three people sitting between Mi Lao and Long Chen. Her poisonous gaze never left his back. Long Chen could see her looking at him through his Divine Sense, but he didnât mind.
"How could he be alive after what happened yesterday?" one of Mi Laoâs friends whispered into her ears.
Mi Lao glared at her and gestured to her to be silent.
"Youâre going to get in trouble. Keep your mouth shut, and donât mention anything. Nothing happened yesterday!" She replied to her friend, who was more like her follower.
Five more minutes passed, and Ruan Yi finally opened her eyes. She opened her cherry blossom lips and started speaking.
"Alright. Time to begin the day. You guys were already told that today, it would be all about battling your opponent, and weâll be focusing on close combat battle mostly."
"When you are fighting an enemy, there often comes a time when you canât fight in long-range. Maybe because you have run out of Qi or you donât have any decent long-range Martial Skills like your opponent. There can be many reasons why you might need to close in on your enemy and engage in close combat."
"Most of the Cultivators ignore this reality or possibility, whatever you want to call it. This negligence can cause death and frequently result in a disaster. Thatâs why Iâm going to make you focus on the close combat," Ruan Yi said.
"We will continue with this later, but first, I need to see where you are all at. Letâs start the day with some battle. All of you are going to go through one battle each, and the battles will be close-range battles. Also, you canât use any weapons in these battles," she added.
"There are fifty of you here today, and you are all going to be coupled with another person. You canât use any skills either. It will be a hand to hand battle. Thatâs all."
"You guys see the box beside me? There are fifty paper slips inside it, and each of the slips has a number. That number will decide your opponent, the person youâll be fighting. Come here one by one and take out a slip and go back to your seats," Ruan Yi declared.
"Weâll start from you," she said as she pointed towards the person on the left corner of the first row.
It was a boy who she pointed at. The boy was one of the best disciples amongst the fifty people present here. He looked like he was under the age of twenty years old. Despite his young age, he was already at the peak of the Earth Realm. He was called Ru Shen.
Ru Shen stood up and walked closer to the box. He inserted his hand inside the box and brought out a slip from the box and walked back.
The next person stood up and moved towards the front. He also brought a slip out of the box and went back.
One after another, people kept moving forward and went back. Soon, it was Long Chenâs turn since he was sitting in a front row. He followed the others, stood up, and walked towards the box. He brought out a slip and looked at the number inside. It was a number 25.
Long Chen walked back to his seat as well.
People continued going forth and kept taking their slips before they walked back.
After a short time, everyone was finished. All of them had taken the slips.
"Alright. We will start now. The two people that had gotten number one, stand up and come ahead," Ruan Yi said.
The two people that had stood up were both girls.
Both the girls came forth and stood before Ruan Yi.
"Both of you will be the first fight of the day. Even though no weapon is allowed, it wonât be a child fight. The fight wonât stop before one of you loses consciousness," Ruan Yi declared. "Go there and start fighting."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The girls nodded their heads and went to the side near an empty space of the arena.
Long Chen was curious and began watching with interest since he was curious about how the disciples differentiated from the people of other places. He wanted to see how strong they were compared to the average Cultivators with similar Cultivation.