CHAPTER 121: DROPS OF CONFUSION

Chapter 121: Drops of Confusion

.

Even though Zhu Rong had already stepped down from the arena, making space for the next two participants, the crowd still hadn’t calmed down.

Even now, many were still talking about the previous fight, not only because of its brutality, but because it was the kind of brutality that was never actually seen unfold.

No one knew how it had happened, and yet all that mess with Shi Gang had taken place anyway.

Many started to ask themselves what exactly that second year student had done, and the more questions were raised about him, the more people who didn’t know the full extent of Zhu Rong’s reputation began to learn about it.

Needless to say, when they did, their expressions became even more surprised.

"You’re telling me that guy was supposed to be some talentless guy that even first years should be able to beat?

are we even talking about the same person?"

"So Instructor Liang is already engaged to that guy, huh, what a pity. Well, at least he’s not weak, otherwise I would’ve looked for him personally to have a little chat."

"Did anyone figure out what exactly he did to put Shi Gang in that state? Damn it, we’re talking about a third year student already on the right path toward the peak of the third stage. How the hell did he lose?"

The discussions went on, and even though the battle had already ended, many were still trying to understand how Zhu Rong, someone who shouldn’t even have been in the second stage, managed to defeat someone of the third.

Even in the most unlikely scenario, with the other side at the second or even third stage, that still shouldn’t have happened. And yet, it did.

Could it be that he was already at the peak of the third stage, or even the fourth?

No!

The thought that he was already close to the third was already absurd. Thinking he was at the fourth was too much even for them, so in the end the only explanation was that there had to be some trick involved.

And if that trick had been used successfully under the eyes of the referees, then it was valid.

In short, everyone wanted to know, and if possible, learn it. After all, we’re talking about a possible move that could reduce an opponent to the miserable state Shi Gang was in,

who wouldn’t want to learn a move like that?

But despite that, no one had any way of figuring out what trick it was, let alone learn it for the time being.

Just like the audience, even the instructors, who at some point had started paying attention to Zhu Rong’s match, were left impressed by his performance.

If it had only been that, then none of them would have been that surprised.

Sure, he was a student lacking in almost every aspect, and in the span of a year and a half he hadn’t achieved any concrete results.

But he was still a member of a prestigious family, and as such they wouldn’t be shocked if he somehow managed to reach that level of power.

The problem was that no matter how much they examined his cultivation base, they couldn’t perceive it.

The only thing they could determine, from the almost imperceptible fluctuations that had burst out for a second during that single strike he launched at his opponent, was that he was at least at the second stage, but beyond that, nothing.

They couldn’t evaluate his cultivation base at all.

This shocked quite a few people, because instructors from the fourth stage and above, many even at the fifth, being unable to determine the cultivation of a second year student was no small matter.

They could say the boy had a good technique for suppressing spiritual energy, but making it difficult even for their eyes to determine his cultivation?

That was too much even for them.

Inevitably, even they started asking themselves questions, and soon one of them couldn’t help but turn to a particular instructor sitting with them in the reserved area for instructors.

"Instructor Liang, I must admit your fiancé outdid himself with this fight. Even I can’t see the full extent of his strength. Do you know anything about it?" asked a female instructor sitting next to Liang Yuexin.

She, lost in her own thoughts, when hearing her colleague’s words could only shake her head and say simply,

"Not really, I don’t interact with him much. It’s a surprise even to me," she said, with a strange glimmer in her eyes that went unnoticed by the others.

She wasn’t lying.

She really had never interacted much with him.

At first, because she didn’t want to, and any interactions with him were mostly due to Zhu Rong himself, who decided to pursue her or simply cause her trouble.

Later, during the second year, after that incident in the bath, she only met him twice personally. After that everything went back to how it was before, or at least how it should have been.

But those two encounters left her with an indelible impression of him in her mind.

Already from the very first meeting she noticed immediately that something was off about him.

It was like it wasn’t him talking to her, but someone else.

He was calmer, more thoughtful, he always seemed to have a plan in mind when he acted, and she noticed this very well during their small trip in the forest in search of that herb.

Although she didn’t know exactly what it was used for, she did some research on it, but its applications were limited and mainly related to medicine, since it was an important component of various remedies.

She could only guess that his sudden growth in cultivation had something to do with it, but if he really needed a medicine for his cultivation, did that mean that before, something had been holding him back?

If so, why had she never heard anything about it, neither from his family nor from Zhu Rong’s?

Her family, like the Zhu family, was very influential, so gathering information about other families was a common practice among them. Yet she had never heard of such a matter and considered it unlikely.

However, the incident during the end of semester exam made her reconsider.

Back then he had managed to defeat a third stage beast while still being in the first.

It was clear he had used some tricks, and that mana core explosion probably wasn’t the only one.

In short, she found herself understanding less and less about that person. And months had already passed since then, and he had never pulled any prank or even shown up unexpectedly, he always seemed lost in his own world, busy with something.

This, combined with the cultivation technique he had given her, only left her with even more confusion.

And today’s battle was just another drop in this vase of doubts and confusion.

At this point she was sure this was no longer the Zhu Rong she knew. But if it wasn’t him, then who was he?

And what had happened to that irritable being who she was ready to kill?