170: Injured Mo Yu

After defeating the rabble at the entrance, Xie Ning made his way to the third building—the Reflection Tower.

Along the way, students would glance at him from time to time, but they were all scared off by a single look. Even those who weren't stared down were frightened into a mess by White Fang's roar.

Compared to the battles in the experimental base, facing this group of students with little combat experience made even Xie Ning feel like he was bullying elementary schoolers.

Reaching the third floor, he found the third room.

Bang!

He kicked the door open. The room was dimly lit, containing only a simple bed and a cabinet. Qin Tianyu was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, resting. Although his Face was slightly pale, his breathing was stable.

"Seems like you're in good spirits," Xie Ning said with a smile.

Qin Tianyu opened his eyes and nodded slightly. "You're a bit early."

"Let's go." As he spoke, he tilted his head, signaling for Qin Tianyu to follow.

Downstairs, before they had gone far, two students who had just reached Silver Rank rushed over, followed by the rabble from earlier.

"Xie Ning! You actually dare to break into J-District and injure the students on duty? Do you know what you're doing?" The Silver Rank student who arrived was riding a Green-Faced White Badger, acting with an air of righteousness as if he were judging a criminal.

The other person cooperated, releasing a Silver Rank Aura.

Xie Ning glanced at him and said, "Just say what you want to say. Listening to this is making me sleepy."

White Fang crouched at his feet, boredly scratching his neck with a hind leg.

"You!" The student riding the badger was furious.

"Humph! Since you dared to assault the students on duty, it would be within the rules for me to beat you up and lock you away right now! Qin Tianyu, you'd better not help, or I'll extend your solitary confinement by another week!" the other Silver Rank shouted.

Xie Ning and Qin Tianyu looked at each other and shook their heads.

In the next second, Qin Tianyu flashed in a black light, appearing in front of the Silver Rank student who had warned him, pressing a dagger against his neck.

Just as the Green-Faced White Badger was about to move, White Fang roared and strolled over. His wolfish eyes glared at it, and his fur ignited into flames, instantly transforming into slender fire spears that surrounded the Green-Faced White Badger from all directions, pinning it in place.

"Still want to fight?" Xie Ning asked.

The scene went silent for three seconds.

"Let's go."

Xie Ning and Qin Tianyu bypassed the crowd and left J-District.

The crowd watched the two figures, which weren't particularly tall, but not a single person dared to stop them.

As they left J-District, Qin Tianyu suddenly thought of something and asked with a frown, "Have you seen Mo Yu yet?"

"Not yet, I just got back." Xie Ning asked in confusion, "Did something happen?"

"Yeah, she lost her match."

Xie Ning laughed. "If she lost, she lost. Winning and losing are common occurrences. Learning a lesson is the greatest gain."

However, Qin Tianyu's next sentence made Xie Ning's hair stand on end.

"She was injured and is now in the infirmary."

"What happened?!" Xie Ning's expression froze as he hurriedly asked.

"During the battle phase after the competition, the opponent fouled. The Yao Beast's attack hit Mo Yu. Go see..."

Before he could finish, he saw Xie Ning riding White Fang, speeding away. Flames erupted all along the way like a pillar of fire, heading straight for the infirmary... As White Fang galloped, wreathed in bursts of flame, people and beasts alike scrambled to get out of the way, leaving chaos in his wake.

"Who is that? Charging around like that."

"So fast. He must be at least Silver Rank. I'm so envious..."

"Envious my foot! Come on, let's report him! Riding beasts recklessly is forbidden in the academy!"

"Let's go, let's go together."

Xie Ning didn't have the time to care about the reactions of the people on the road; he was rushing toward the infirmary.

He had been wondering why his obedient disciple hadn't come to pay her respects this morning, but he hadn't expected... Just then, his phone vibrated. He picked it up and saw it was a message from Mo Yu.

Mo Yu: "Master, how is your mission going? Is everything smooth? Hehe~ I forgot to pay my respects this morning."

It was followed by a silly smiling emoji.

Xie Ning was about to press for details, but after a thought, he changed his reply to: "Yeah, I've got it. I should be back tomorrow. How are you doing now?"

Mo Yu replied: "I'm doing great, busy in the cultivation room. My Wind-Listening Rabbit is almost ready to evolve. I'm just waiting for Master to come back and show off your skills."

A moment later, another message arrived.

"Master, I'm still busy, so I'll stop for now. We can talk more when you get back. I have so much I want to ask you."

Xie Ning frowned and replied with a "Fine."

Upon arriving at the infirmary, Xie Ning lightened his steps and walked in.

The infirmary was spacious, with all kinds of departments, no less than a three-story small hospital.

Xie Ning searched all the way to the second floor before he heard Mo Yu's voice.

"Quick, quick, Senior Sister Ye, Xiao Nannan, help me apply the medicine. I have to recover today, or it'll be so embarrassing if Master finds out tomorrow."

Following the sound, he saw six or seven people gathered around a hospital bed in a room on the second floor, one of them holding medicine.

The tall Girl called Senior Sister Ye looked at Mo Yu with difficulty. "Although Instructor Ruan Qiong's medicine is good, she also said it's very irritating to the skin. With your current injuries, you won't be able to handle it if we apply it."

"Maybe we should just forget it. If the teacher finds out, then he finds out. Besides, you're injured. If Teacher Xie knows, he might soften his heart and not blame you," a slightly chubby, cute Girl with baby fat added. She was Xiao Nannan.

"That won't do. Don't I need Face? Losing the cultivation competition is embarrassing enough. If I'm also injured, that's just too... Hiss—fine, someone help me up, I can't turn over." On the bed, Mo Yu, still trying to act tough, took a sharp breath, her whole body shivering as she immediately lost her spirit.

"All right then. You boys, stop watching and step out for a moment," Senior Sister Ye sighed.

"Let me help her apply it."

A male voice rang out.

"Didn't you hear me say boys should step out? Are you trying to take advantage of our Xiao Yu... oh." Senior Sister Ye turned around, and her expression froze when she saw the speaker.

But she quickly became happy and shouted, "Teacher Xie! Why are you here?! Weren't you supposed to be back tomorrow?"

The others also noticed Xie Ning standing there and quickly greeted him respectfully, their eyes filled with excitement and joy.

Only Mo Yu on the bed had a look of utter despair.

After responding to everyone, Xie Ning sat down by the bed and smiled. "Why the Face? Don't want to see me?"

"Of course not, it's just... Master, you're a liar. Didn't you say you were coming back tomorrow?" As Mo Yu spoke, her eyes turned red.

"Yeah, so you were planning to torture yourself?" As he spoke, Xie Ning opened the medicine bottle and took a sniff. "Applying this stuff would peel a layer off even an iron man. Do you really think you can handle it?"

"There was no other way..." Mo Yu's voice grew softer.

Xie Ning shook his head. Seeing her half-wrapped in bandages, her Face pale and lips blue, and her voice weak, he asked softly, "What exactly happened?"

Mo Yu gave Xie Ning a general account of the match.

It turned out the match began yesterday afternoon. Mo Yu's opponent was a student from the Imperial Capital Yulong Cultivation Academy.

The first round was scored by a machine, and Mo Yu won by a slim margin. In the second round, the Yao Beast battle, Mo Yu lacked experience and fell into a disadvantage. Eventually, she was hit by the opponent's Yao Beast's ice and fainted from her injuries.

"Attacking the opposing Breeder is allowed in cultivation competitions?"

To Xie Ning's question, Student Nannan replied, "No, the rules don't allow Yao Beasts to attack Breeders. But that despicable guy took advantage of the fact that Xiao Yu's Yao Beast was close to her to use an area-of-effect attack. It looked like he was attacking Xiao Yu's evolved Yao Beast, but it was actually aimed at Xiao Yu."

Xie Ning frowned and asked, "Isn't there a protective shield on the challenge stage?"

"There was at the beginning, but it disappeared during the fight! That detestable referee teacher even claimed it was a 'protective shield machine malfunction.' Who is he trying to fool?!" a boy said indignantly.

"There's such a thing..." Xie Ning couldn't help but ponder.

Xie Ning didn't know what the protective shield machine was like, nor could he judge if it was a real or fake malfunction.

Then, Senior Sister Ye added, "That's not all; there's something even more ridiculous! In their battle, if either side touched the ground outside the stage, they were supposed to lose."

"Midway through the fight, the Yao Beast Xiao Yu cultivated successfully knocked the opponent's Yao Beast off the stage, but the referee wouldn't acknowledge it! He actually said the Yao Beast still had a foot on the stage, so it didn't count as a loss."

Several other students nodded in agreement, confirming this scene.

Xie Ning narrowed his eyes and asked, "So, according to the rules, and assuming the referee wasn't blind, Xiao Yu should have won that match, right?"

"Right! Everyone saw it; more than half the academy can testify to it."

"Exactly, there's even a video recording of the scene that can prove it!"

Xie Ning watched the video clip where a Yao Beast was knocked back several times, eventually landing with one claw out of bounds on the ground and one claw still on the stage, after which it climbed back up to continue fighting. He couldn't help but ask, "Who was the referee?"

"It seems to be the joint homeroom teacher for Class 13 and four other classes, Yan Chengze," a student answered.

Another student slapped his forehead and said, "I remember now! He seems to be from the Imperial Capital. Before the match started, he was always hanging around the people from Yulong Cultivation Academy. They seemed very familiar with each other."

"Yan Chengze... him again. It really is a small world."

Xie Ning muttered to himself.

"Master, do you know this person?" Mo Yu asked.

"Yeah, he's no good," Xie Ning nodded. "Qin Tianyu from our class was put in solitary confinement by Yan Chengze yesterday for hitting someone from the Imperial Capital."

He didn't mention his own conflict with Yan Chengze.

Senior Sister Ye and Student Nannan exchanged a look, then looked at Mo Yu.

Mo Yu said, "Master, actually, Tian Yu only went up on stage to vent his anger on my behalf, which led to him being locked up by Yan Chengze."

Xie Ning was taken aback for a moment, then it suddenly dawned on him.

In his understanding, Qin Tianyu was both loyal and cold; he would stand up for people he knew, like when he beat up Fei Shanqiu for collecting protection fees from the Girls in class. But at the same time, he didn't seem like the type to care so much about people or things unrelated to him.

Now, everything made sense. Xie Ning stood up and said, "I have a general idea of what happened. Thank you all for taking care of Xiao Yu. I have something to attend to."

"Don't worry, Teacher Xie. Xiao Yu is our little sister; we'll definitely take good care of her."

"That's right, leave it to us."

"Teacher, please go ahead and attend to your business."

Under their gaze, Xie Ning left the infirmary. His originally gentle Face instantly turned gloomy, and a faint Killing Intent caused the temperature at the entrance to drop by about ten degrees. A student couple walking by couldn't help but shiver. The boy took the opportunity to pull off his jacket and drape it over the Girl, his hand naturally resting on her shoulder.

Xie Ning: "..."

Riding White Fang, Xie Ning sped all the way to Yan Ruyu's office.

Coincidentally, Instructor Ruan Qiong and Su Qin were also there. Seeing Xie Ning, Instructor Ruan Qiong asked, "You've seen Xiao Yu, haven't you?"

Xie Ning nodded and looked at the two of them:

"For the instructor group competition tomorrow, I want a slot!"

Yan Ruyu and Ruan Qiong exchanged a look, and Yan Ruyu handed a nameplate from the desk to Xie Ning.

Ruan Qiong: "It's already been prepared."

"The Imperial Capital side has gone too far this time."

Xie Ning said coldly, "Then I'll do something even more extreme."