It was already late afternoon when I left the middle-aged man's place. I went to the inner courtyard to find Luo Hua.
Chu Zhou Academy is also divided into the inner and outer courtyards. The outer courtyard is for new disciples like Qin Chuan. Of course, it's not that just passing the freshman period guarantees entry into the inner courtyard.
Some people in the inner courtyard have been there for decades, and some have even been there for over a century.
Although the conditions for entering the inner courtyard aren't particularly demanding, many people still never manage to get in their entire lives.
That's reality, and it's cruel. Some people enter the inner courtyard easily, while others work incredibly hard but never meet the standards.
The outer and inner courtyards are separated by a huge gate. Generally, it's students from the inner courtyard who come to the outer courtyard, and they have to pass through the outer courtyard to enter the inner courtyard.
Students from the outer courtyard rarely go to the inner courtyard because they can't bear the embarrassment there; what would they do there? Going there would only bring shame.
When students from the inner courtyard pass by the outer courtyard, they always attract envious glances, which the inner courtyard students enjoy. It gives them a feeling of being winners in life.
Many seemingly ordinary inner courtyard students can find very beautiful girlfriends through the outer courtyard, which makes the outer courtyard students very unhappy.
After all, the male-to-female ratio at Chuzhou Academy was unbalanced, and this was true everywhere; in most places, there were more male martial artists than female ones.
Furthermore, those chosen by the inner academy were all beautiful girls from the outer academy, which made the outer academy students very uncomfortable, since these were, strictly speaking, their resources.
Qin Chuan walked to the gate leading to the inner academy. It was a huge, colorful gate, with a pattern on one side of a golden carp and on the other a shimmering, majestic dragon.
This gate was called the Dragon Gate, symbolizing the carp leaping over the dragon gate; entering the inner academy was like a carp transforming into a dragon.
Qin Chuan prepared to go in.
But at that moment, three people blocked Qin Chuan's path, saying, "You must be Qin Chuan!"
Qin Chuan knew they were there to cause trouble, and even knew why—because of Luo Hua.
This was the power of women: devastating to the country. Of course, this was only one power of beautiful women; they had to be beautiful to a certain degree.
"Yes, that's me. What do you want?"
Qin Chuan said, sizing up the three people opposite him.
These three men had ordinary faces, but each had their own distinctive features. The one in the middle had a huge hooked nose, which was his most striking characteristic. It was an exaggeration to say that the nose took up half of his face, but it was close to a third.
The man on the left had regular features, but his arms were incredibly thick; his hands could easily reach past his knees.
The third man didn't have any particularly striking features, except that he only had one eye, and his other eye was covered with a black cloth, making him look like a one-eyed bandit.
It's said that extraordinary people and strange phenomena exist, and capable people often have unusual appearances. Two of these three men looked odd, and the third, with only one eye, was unlikely to be easily remembered.
"Nothing much, just telling you to stay away from the Fallen Flower Goddess in the future, otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?" Qin Chuan asked casually.
"Interesting, kid. It seems you don't know who we are. We'll mercifully tell you today, we are the Three Wonders of Chuzhou."
Qin Chuan was taken aback. He had never heard of us before. In fact, he had only just arrived and hadn't learned much. This so-called Three Wonders of Chuzhou seemed laughable to him.
There are many famous and influential people here, but they are all powerful figures, so powerful that they can make this place tremble with a single stomp.
But what the hell are these "Three Wonders of Chuzhou"? Besides, Qin Chuan can now sense their strength; they're really nothing special.
"Never heard of them. You guys step aside. I don't want to fight today," Qin Chuan said with a smile.
"Oh, pretty arrogant, huh? You won't learn your lesson until you see the coffin. Brothers, beat him up!" The man with the hooked nose in the middle roared angrily.
"Assistant!"
Just then, a handsome and dashing young man walked over, holding a folding fan and dressed in white, truly incredibly elegant.
However, Qin Chuan sensed something was off. This man gave him a bad feeling, but
he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Tang Liusong, don't interfere in this matter," the man with the hooked nose said, frowning.
"What if I insist on taking action?" the white-clad man, Tang Liusong, said with a smile.
"Alright, very well, let's go then. Kid, you're lucky today. Hope you're just as lucky next time. Let's go."
The hook-nosed man finished speaking and prepared to leave, but at this moment, Qin Chuan finally realized something, because these three people were in cahoots with the man in white.
This was all a banquet, but for what?
Qin Chuan didn't know, but now he made a decision and said to the hook-nosed man, "Wait, we can't leave today. No one has ever been able to show off in front of me and leave unscathed. No one has, so please wait a moment."
"What do you want to do?" The hook-nosed man trembled.
Bang!
Qin Chuan punched the man directly in the face, knocking him to the ground. But that wasn't the end of it; then came the other two.
Bang bang bang...
Qin Chuan's attacks were swift and ruthless. These three people were caught off guard and hit by Qin Chuan. Qin Chuan's strikes were in very specific locations.
After being hit, they felt sore all over, unable to exert any strength, and their bodies felt stiff. This was all due to Qin Chuan's abilities, but to outsiders, it looked like Qin Chuan had launched a sneak attack.
Many people gathered around to watch.
The so-called Three Prodigies of Chuzhou had some reputation within the inner courtyard, not because they were particularly skilled themselves, but because their master was capable.
This master was Tang Liusong, who had devised a simple scheme to ridicule and mock Qin Chuan.
He would intervene to help those in need, naturally becoming friends with Qin Chuan, then open his heart to him, only to discover he'd been deceived. Wouldn't that be satisfying and fulfilling?
This was Tang Liusong's favorite tactic.
Tang Liusong came from the Tang family, one of the five great families, truly a prodigy, and far more popular than Zhao Hao.
This was because Tang Liusong completely surpassed Zhao Hao in height, appearance, and cultivation, not to mention the Tang family's higher ranking.
Tang Liusong had used this method to deceive countless women and men. She was a peculiar person; legend had it that she not only liked women but also men.
Qin Chuan's actions stunned Tang Liusong; this scenario was beyond his comprehension. Several people screamed in agony
.
At first, they were furious, feeling they had been ambushed, and tried to fight back, but they quickly realized they were wrong. They
were completely powerless to resist.
Eventually, they resigned themselves to their fate, cowering on the ground as they were beaten.
Many people around were dumbfounded. Many knew that the Three Wonders of Chuzhou were Tang Liusong's lackeys.
But beating a dog in front of its master, even if sometimes it deserved to be punished, still made the master lose face.