by Dragon King
He handed two over to Zhen Congming and walked to Zhao Yanzi with the other two.
Xie Yujia paid for Wu Luoxue’s meal, and the latter held the chicken tender combo careful and sat beside Zhao Yanzi.
Zhen Congming smiled flatteringly as he pushed his tray over. Then, he moved to the seat beside Wu Luoxue.
Wu Luoxue didn’t care about him as she ate quietly with the chopsticks in her tiny pink hand. Her mom prepared a lunch box for her, but Zhen Congming dragged her to come and visit East Ocean University.
During the summer, she stayed at home and read, painted, and played the piano… as if Zhen Congming didn’t exist. However, Zhen Congming always dragged her to play games and get ice cream.
Wu Luoxue was neither annoyed nor fond of it. It was both an ordinary and an unordinary summer for her.
Zhen Congming had a different mindset. He felt like Wu Luoxue and he had gotten very close during the summer, so he took her on a tour of East Ocean University. It was like an emperor was taking his imperial concubine on a tour of the royal backyard.
He would be heavily shocked if he learned that Wu Luoxue only came because her dad had told her to get along with Zhen Congming. In fact, she wasn’t interested in him.
Xie Luoxue ate slowly and elegantly as she was brought up properly. Zhao Yanzi devoured half of her meal before she realized how Wu Luoxue was eating, and she looked at Hao Ren and saw him watching her. Her face suddenly turned red.
Hao Ren looked at her lovingly. Even though Zhao Yanzi warned herself to be careful of Hao Ren, she still felt very sweet inside.
“Hem…Hem…” Zhao Yanzi patted her chest and dry coughed a little. Then, she sipped the soup and started to eat as slowly as Wu Luoxue.
This was the first time that Zhao Yanzi paid attention to her behavior…
Hao Ren was going to see Lu Qi at the library after lunch, so Xie Yujia and the Lu sisters followed him there. Zhao Yanzi looked at the time and saw that she still had some time before the lunch break ended, so she handed the bike to Ling and followed Hao Ren to the library as well.
Ling looked Zhao Yanzi and thought angrily, “She said that I’m always putting my boyfriend before her, but she is doing the same!”
Zhen Congming and Wu Luoxue also followed them out of the cafeteria. Zhen Congming hesitated and tried to hold Wu Luoxue’s hand, but she wouldn’t let him this time. She raised her hand and moved it around, and Zhen Congming couldn’t grab it. This made him want it even more.
“Brother Hao!” Lu Qi was hosting the Go Club’s recruiting event for the second day, and he immediately greeted Hao Ren when the latter walked over.
“Um…” Hao Ren walked over and asked, “Where is the Calligraphy Club’s general meeting?”
“Academic Building F, Room 101 at 1:00 PM. It is the largest lecture hall of our school,” Lu Qi answered.
“Ok.” Hao Ren nodded. By establishing the Calligraphy Club, he would be able to gather all the cultivators at school so that it wouldn’t be such a mess.
“Also, Vice Principle Lu assigned us a club office himself. It’s a separate large office, Room 302 of Academic Building E,” Lu Qi said.
Hao Ren smiled powerlessly and wondered how large of a discussion this arrangement would cause. At least, all other clubs would be extremely jealous of them because even Huang Xujie’s Rock-Climbing Club didn’t get such special treatment.
Lu Qi looked at Zhao Yanzi, who was beside Hao Ren, and thought to himself, “So, this is the little princess of the East Ocean Dragon Clan. She looks pretty even in her middle school uniform.”
Lu Qi wasn’t a water-elemental dragon, and his dragon clan was very far from East Ocean. Therefore, he didn’t have that much respect for the East Ocean Dragon Clan. In fact, it was Hao Ren’s abilities and character that earned his admiration.
“Xue, they play Go as well!” Zhen Congming noticed the Go chess pieces on the long table and said to Wu Luoxue.
Zhen Congming said that mainly to start a conversation with Wu Luoxue, but his tone offended the members of the Go Club.
“Where did these kids come from? This is Go, not Five in a Row!” they thought.
Zhen Congming took the opportunity to grab Wu Luoxue’s slim wrist, and they walked over to see the board arrangement.
Wu Luoxue took her wrist back. She was a little against Zhen Congming touched her hand, but it was not enough to get her mad.
Zhen Congming glimpsed at the board and randomly picked up a black piece, placing it on the board.
“Hey! Kid, you are not supposed to touch this!” one of the club members shouted immediately.
All these arrangements were copies of the games between their leader, Lu Qi, and top players. They were used to test new members, and it would take a long time for them to rearrange it according to the record if it were messed up.
“62 black pieces and 62 white pieces. It is black’s turn,” Zhen Congming said.
The member who was in charge of this arrangement looked at Zhen Congming in surprise. He thought, “This kid only glanced at it, and he already knew the number of the pieces…”
Wu Luoxue walked over to see the game. She was more interested in Go than in Zhen Congming.
That club member thought for a bit, and he picked up a white piece and placed it on the board.
Zhen Congming played another piece without thinking about it much.
Then, this member set another white piece down. It was very rare for elementary school students to know how to play Go.
He heard that some of the elementary schools were giving Go lessons as well, so he wanted to see how good this cute boy was.
Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!
The black and white pieces landed on the board one by one.
“Um…” Ten minutes later, this member couldn’t decide where to put his next white piece.
It might have been the heat of the afternoon, or this member might have been very nervous. He was sweating on the forehead, but he had no time to wipe it off. He was a level 5 amateur player with excellent skills, but Zhen Congming was making it difficult for him to fight back!
Lu Qi stared at the board and thought of a few places to put the white piece. However, he then realized that those were bad choices.
“You should put it here,” Wu Luoxue said gently as she pointed at a spot on the board with her tiny finger.
Lu Qi was suddenly enlightened, and the club member who was playing against Zhen Congming immediately placed the white piece in his hand over at that spot.
This move had brought the passive white pieces some hope.
Lu Qi looked at this calm-looking little girl in surprise. He realized that this girl might be even better than him in Go.
“Then, I’ll go here!” Zhen Congming laid another black piece down, and the situation change again.
“Here.” Wu Luoxue pointed again.
This member of the Go Club became Wu Luoxue’s puppet, and he placed the piece at where she was pointing.”
“Here!” Zhen Congming went again.
“Here.” Wu Luoxue gently pointed again.
The battle between the black pieces and the white pieces was very intense. Hao Ren didn’t understand how it went, but he could tell that the two players were almost of equal skills.
Lu Qi, on the other hand, watched in excitement.
This was a game between top players! Even level 7 amateur players wouldn’t be able to play like this!
Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! The chess pieces slowly took up the board. Wu Luoxue picked up a white chest piece in the end and put it on the board herself.
“You… have lost” She tilted her head and said.
Zhen Congming gritted his teeth as his eyebrows almost twisted together. He watched the board for a few seconds before he threw the black piece back into the can; he was mad and unwilling to accept defeat.
“You are too weak,” Wu Luoxue said pleasantly.
Lu Qi stared at the board as he couldn’t tell the result yet. He calculated a do
zen steps ahead and realized that it was a dead end for the black pieces.
Hao Ren looked at Wu Luoxue as he realized that she was a tricky little girl; she didn’t need a bat to beat Zhen Congming.
“Excuse me, can I join the Go Club?” someone said suddenly.
564 Showcase of Power!!
Lu Qi looked back and saw that the person who spoke was Xu Ke, and one whom he planned to keep an eye on.
Looking back and seeing Xu Ke behind him, Hao Ren broke into a cold sweat; he hadn’t sensed a trace of Xu Ke’s aura and didn’t know that the latter was in the crowd behind him.
If they were in the wilderness, Xu Ke could have hidden and killed Hao Ren with one strike.
“I’m heading back.” Zhao Yanzi tugged at Hao Ren’s hand.
“Should I walk you back?” Hao Ren asked her.
“I can go by myself; it’s not like I don’t know the way.” Zhao Yanzi curled her lips, feeling a bit sulky since she still had a mock exam this afternoon.
“I’ll take you back with my bicycle,” Xie Yujia said immediately with her hands on the handles of her bicycle.
From the talk this morning, she knew that Xu Ke was a tough guy, so she tried to take Zhao Yanzi away as soon as possible. This way, Hao Ren could stay here to deal with this guy without the involvement of Zhao Yanzi.
Zhao Yanzi glanced at Xie Yujia and nodded. “Ok.”
She didn’t know what the problem was with this Xu Ke, but Xie Yujia’s offer would save her the efforts of walking.
Seeing them riding toward the direction of the school gate on one bicycle, Hao Ren touched his forehead, wondering since when the two girls had gotten along so well.
Wu Luoxue checked the time and walked toward the main gate of East Ocean University slowly. Zhen Congming had no sense of time and didn’t work hard, but she wanted to go back to school for the afternoon classes on time.
Seeing Wu Luoxue walking away slowly, Zhen Congming hurried after her.
Walking slowly through the university campus, Wu Luoxue attracted many people’s attention. She was as cute as a doll in the university students’ mind.
“Hm.” Hao Ren looked at them and suddenly wondered what Lady Zhen thought about Wu Luoxue, the girlfriend her son chose by himself. After all, since Lady Zhen was that powerful, she must have known about Zhen Congming’s pursuit of Wu Luoxue…
“Little Liu, test this student’s skills,” Lu Qi said to a member of the Go Club.
Xu Ke had issued a challenge to the Go Club as the retaliation for Lu Qi sending people after him. However, Lu Qi wasn’t afraid of this challenge.
At Dui-level, Lu Qi’s dharma treasure that looked like a chess board was quite powerful, and he was one of the masters among the young generation of cultivators in East Ocean University.
“Ok.” Xu Ke walked over with a smile and placed a piece on the chess board.
The member who was responsible for recruiting new members thought for a moment and came to play with Xu Ke.
Hao Ren was surprised that the athletic Xu Ke could also play chess, wondering if the training program at the metal-elemental dragon clan also included chess skills.
According to Yue Zilong, the metal-elemental dragon clan was famous for its devilish cultivation program. The cultivators below Kun-level weren’t even called “cultivators” and were quite disposable.
Under such a culture, all metal-elemental dragons must be cultivation maniacs like Su Han…
Lu Qi watched for a while and found that Xu Ke was placing chess pieces on the board randomly.
Slap!
Xu Ke placed another chess piece.
The member who was playing chess with Xu Ke thought Xu Ke’s chess strategy was messy as if he didn’t know how to play at all. However, after the shock brought to him by Zhen Congming and Wu Luoxue, he didn’t dare to lower his guards.
Cautiously, he put down another piece.
Crack… The smooth chessboard suddenly shattered.
Just withdrawing his right hand, this member was so shocked that sweat appeared on his forehead.
This was Lu Qi’s favorite Nanzhu Chessboard and one of his collections. He had brought it for this special occasion of member recruitment, but now it was shattered!
“President…” This member looked at Lu Qi fearfully, afraid that Lu Qi would get mad.
To his surprise, Lu Qi didn’t look at him. Instead, Lu Qi turned to glare at Xu Ke with gritted teeth. Although his strength was inferior to Hao Ren’s, he was one of the elites among the young generation, especially in the fire-elemental dragon clan. Since his dharma treasure was a Go chessboard, he harbored a special feeling for chessboards in general and liked playing Go.
Obviously, Xu Ke’s act was his counterattack against Lu Qi’s secret investigation on him.
“Senior, I’m sorry! It seems like I have damaged the chessboard.” Seeing Xu Ke’s glare, Xu Ke said nervously.
He drew out several hundred yuan from his wallet and said, “I must pay for it. How much is it? 300 or 400?”
He looked and sounded so sincere that the watching students thought this first-year student was indeed well-manner. After all, it wasn’t him who was the last to touch the chessboard.
Despite Lu Qi’s great power, it didn’t reflect well on him if he bullied a freshman.
Lu Qi gritted his teeth, knowing that the surrounding students had no idea that the chessboard had cost him more than 50,000 yuan. It was an antique, not something that could be bought for a few hundred yuan.
Also, these collectibles were hard to be valued with money. The ordinary students wouldn’t understand Lu Qi’s heartache and anger. Only the members of the Go Club could understand.
“It’s ok. Forget it,” Lu Qi said with squinted eyes.
Cultivators were not supposed to care too much for external things. Despite his love for the chessboard, it was not a dharma treasure and thus was not a real loss to him.
Xu Ke’s act showed his hostility toward Lu Qi. It was very simple for the dragon cultivators to solve their disagreements and that was to fight each other fiercely in a remote corner inside a red energy sphere.
“Senior, I’m really sorry.” Xu Ke still put 200 yuan upon the shattered chessboard and hurried toward the Academic Building.
The surrounding students were all silently exclaiming about this student’s sincerity.
However, Hao Ren knew it as a blow Xu Ke gave to Lu Qi, and the real purpose was to warn him.
“Tonight, I’ll ask Xu Ke out for a fight.” Hao Ren thought for a moment. “Please arrange a place for me.”
“Really?” Lu Qi looked at Hao Ren in surprise.
Due to the small number of metal-elemental dragons, most dragon cultivators had never challenged them before. That was why Lu Qi was surprised at Hao Ren’s request to fight Xu Ke.
However, he knew Hao Ren was serious from the determination on his face. “How about the sports field? I’ll build a basic array formation there.”
“That’s settled then.” Hao Ren turned to pick up the broken chessboard and felt the wood patterns in the chessboard while injecting threads of pure wood-elemental nature essence into them.
Beside the desk of the Go Club, there was a black case for storing the chessboard.
Careful with this chessboard Lu Qi usually stored it in the case and rarely took it out for use. Today, he had meant to air it under the sun while showing it to the members of the Go Club, not expecting that Xu Ke would damage it.
“Take the chessboard and put it away.” Placing the chessboard into the black case, Hao Ren handed it to Lu Qi.
Lu Qi opened the case and found the shattered chessboard back in its original state!
Hao Ren’s control of power was silent but very impressive! Wood-elemental cultivators excelled in repairing damaged dharma treasures and nurturing cultivators’ meridians.
“However, Hao Ren, a water-elemental cultivator, had repaired the chessboard with ease! His skills are probably even greater than wo
od-elemental cultivators since it is a challenge to control the nature essence that much and have that level of sharp spiritual senses. However, with only one touch, Hao Ren had reconnected the thousands of fibers inside the chessboard! Powerful! So powerful!”
Lu Qi thought Hao Ren was even more powerful than when he was in the Dragon God Shrine’s general exams!
He had been worried that Hao Ren would be at a disadvantage in the battle with a metal-elemental cultivator, but now he was quite expectant of it! He wondered if the metal-elemental dragon clan was as powerful as the legends said, and he hoped that Hao Ren could win!
Hao Ren crossed Lu Qi’s Go Club’s booth to go to other booths.
Due to yesterday’s sudden storm, many clubs had ended their recruitment earlier than planned. Today, with the beautiful weather, each club put up their booth again.
Seeing Hao Ren walked over, they all felt pressured.
Within half a day, he had become the president of a major club with 500 members, and he had collected membership fees of more than 250,000 yuan!
Glancing around at the clubs, Hao Ren walked directly toward the Rock-Climbing Club which occupied the biggest space.
Seeing Hao Ren’s approach, Huang Xujie immediately stood up with a bright smile on his face.
The arrogant members of the Rock-Climbing Club all looked respectful when they saw Hao Ren walking toward their booth.
“How’s the investigation on Xu Ke?” Hao Ren asked Huang Xujie.
“I checked! This kid was a student of Class Four at City North First High School with good academic performance. He is also the best student in the long-distance race team, but he didn’t attend junior middle school in East Ocean City. His dorm address is Room 507 of Dorm Building No.8, and his home address is Lane 269 on Guangyin Road of West City District…” Huang Xujie took out a slip of paper from his pocket and read out the information.
Hao Ren glanced at him and knew that he must have got the information from his sources at the police station.
However, it was useful to have Xu Ke’s home address. Without waiting for Huang Xujie to finish, Hao Ren took the paper from his hands and glanced at it before slipping it into his wallet.
