All around, the scholars stared in shock. The one who’d just complained about the stench was especially dumbfounded—he hadn’t expected that the pair dancing so tenderly moments ago would suddenly turn ruthless. The brocade-clad youth slammed the girl straight into a brass pillar, embedding her in the metal with savage force. The scene was brutal enough to leave lasting psychological scars!
Not long after, Wayne Shen walked over and struck the brass pillar with his palm. The pillar shuddered, and Azure Rainbow—who’d been wedged inside—fell out as if shocked by lightning, quickly covering her face and hurrying away.
Her nose was bruised and swollen, and she could barely keep up appearances.
She could have gotten out of the pillar on her own, but with all the scholars crowding around outside, she felt too embarrassed to show her face. So she kept hiding inside, planning to wait until the crowd thinned out—only to find the onlookers multiplying instead.
Wayne Shen next went over to the boulder where Wolf Thrall was hanging with two demon blades stuck in him. He pulled out both blades, freed Wolf Thrall, then jumped down from the jade cliff, shrugged off his outer robe, and draped it over Elias Yun, covering his body before waking him up.
Elias Yun, seeing he was left with only a pair of white shorts, instantly realized that after being knocked out, he’d been looted by that boy named Quinn Shepherd. Shame and embarrassment flooded him.
His white monk’s robe was worth a fortune—far more than ordinary spirit weapons. Elias had sold all his possessions just to scrape together enough for that robe, and now Quinn had stripped it right off him.
Soon after, Wayne Shen, Elias Yun, Wolf Thrall, and Azure Rainbow gathered together again. Wayne Shen grinned and said, “Junior brother, junior sister—what do you think of Quinn Shepherd’s skills?”
Azure Rainbow snorted. “You’re not confident you can beat him, so you sent us in first to test him out? Senior brother, aren’t you being a bit too cunning?”
Wayne Shen replied calmly, “All’s fair in war—that’s what I learned on the battlefield. I also learned: know yourself, know your enemy, and you’ll win every fight. I won’t make a move until I’ve figured out his weakness. You two aren’t much weaker than me, and if you couldn’t beat him, I doubt I could either. So I have to find his flaw. If even I lose, then he’ll be the senior scholar of the Scholars’ Quarters—the face of our compound.”