Ting Miu closed the book she was holding and placed it down on the desk next to her, the nearly 40-metre long blackboard behind her filled with words and small drawings that featured either people or strange symbols. A slight wave of her finger spawned forth thin vines that tied up the books she had brought, her gaze drifting over the disciples within the lecture hall as she gave her closing statement.
"That covers the most common ways to counter users of the law of fire, but keep in mind that everything depends on what insights they have gained and what other laws they might have fused together. Be prudent, be cautious, and never take things for gr..."
Her voice halted abruptly as her brown pupils landed on a seat located at the very back of the room. Li Yang was slouching in the seat, leaning against the wooden table in front of him with crossed arms and looking as if he was sleeping. Ting Miu's gaze narrowed slightly, her right hand stretching out as she aimed at Li Yang and flicked her finger, a wooden orb shooting straight at his forehead as she barked at him.
"Li Yang! What is the best way to counter a cultivator using the law of fire? Answer wrong and I'll report your actions to your father!"
Li Yang rolled his head lazily to the side just as the orb was about to hit him, resulting in it only grazing past his face and rustling his icy-blue hair. The scene didn't shock the disciples, Li Yang's ability to dodge around and evade danger was the only battle-related skill he had since he didn't seem to bother with cultivating and increasing his strength. Of course, had Hong Kiu not lost himself to his hormones yesterday and charged like a raging bull, he would have noticed something wrong with that belief.
Li Yang raised his head slightly and then stretched out his body as if he was a cat, the joints in his arms and neck producing soft popping sounds. He sat up and covered his mouth while yawning and giving a lazy yet unrefutable response to the question.
"How to counter them? Easy, kill them before they get to do anything."
Ting Miu's eyebrows ticked up slightly at Li Yang's glaringly self-evident reply, preparing her hand for another flick while pushing Li Yang to respond in a more informed manner.
"You know what I meant, answer the question."
Li Yang rolled his eyes at Ting Miu's narrowed gaze, leaning his cheek against his fist while shooting Ting Miu a cheeky smirk and responding.
"Senior Sister Miu is really mean, I gave the perfect answer to your question yet you still threaten me like that, you truly hurt my fragile heart. But alright, so that Senior Sister Miu won't have to stain her hands and turn into Demoness Miu, let me answer it in a more long-winded manner."
Li Yang ignored Ting Miu's twitching expression and the somewhat sullen glares of the other boys in the room, stretching out his free arm spreading out his fingers, lowering them one by one as he spoke.
"Best scenario would be to rob them of air, that way they can only rely on their Qi to produce flame and it would drastically reduce their power. Second would be to use the law of water or ice to extinguish their flames, praying that their law doesn't burn hotter than your cold. Third would be to block their flames using a sturdy law that doesn't involve anything flammable, stone and earth are decent examples. Fourth is to overwhelm them in speed, hoping that they haven't gained insight into explosions. And if they have, you pray that you can move faster and in a more flexible manner than them. And fifth, kill em before they can do anything. Was that good enough, Senior Sister Miu? Has Little Ol' me earned a reward now? If so, I'd like another date, the taste of the last one is still fresh on my lips."
Li Yang licked his lips in an exaggerated manner as he finished his sentence, his crimson pupils sweeping over the other men in the room, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly when he saw that they looked like they were just about ready to burst. His head suddenly jolt to the side, a wooden orb whizzing past him and leaving a small cut on his cheek before it embedded itself into the wall behind him. Li Yang turned his pupils back onto the now slightly redder Ting Miu, showing a smile that was equally parts charming and bashful.
"Oh, I'm glad you remember that you made me like a bit of pain, but are you sure you want to do it in such a public place? I mean, I'm all for it, but do you really want to make all the other men in here feel inferior by showing them what I'm hiding below?"
The faint shade of red on Ting Miu's face grew a bit deeper, some of the girls among the disciples unable to hold themselves back and bursting into laughter. The men weren't feeling much better, Li Yang was brazenly flirting with a goddess desired by many of them, even outright insulting all of them in the process.
Li Yang suddenly hopped up from his seat, leaping into the air just as the youthful man sitting directly in front of him but one row down sprung up and spun around to punch at him. His fist passed underneath Li Yang's feet, which quickly landed on top of the youth's dumbfounded head. Li Yang immediately balanced himself and gave a graceful bow, another wooden orb shooting directly over him as he bowed.
"Now then, since the class has ended I believe that I should take my leave. Senior Sister Miu, I look forward to hearing about when you plan on taking me on a date again. And you other Fairy Sisters, you know where to find me so do please come to look for me, just cultivating can get so terribly tedious, I'm sure we can find some nice things we can do together to relax."
Li Yang kicked off of the youths head and quickly jumped away, fleeing out of the exit just as nearly 100 more wooden orbs came shooting at him and embedded themselves into the wall and the door he slammed shut. He let out a short breath after the door stopped trembling from the wooden orbs, placing his hands behind his head and whistling a carefree tune as he walked away from the lecture hall.
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The lecture hall was shaped like a large dome that had four hallways stretching out from it and connecting it to other buildings, which then extended into more hallways that led to more buildings of various shapes. This connected web of buildings was what made up the Wave King Hall of the Deepsea King sect, the third of the six main halls of the sect.
After leaving the lecture hall, Li Yang headed in the opposite direction of Great Carp Cliff, moving along the buildings and hallways that made up Wave King Hall as he headed for his home. He stopped by the closest cherry tree and broke off a thin piece of wood, placing it between his lips and softly chewing it while walking, changing his whistling to a quiet humming.
A large number of smaller buildings that people could live in were spread out between the larger hallways and buildings that made up the Wave King Hall. The larger buildings also contained places where people could live, but there were some that preferred an extra touch of peace and the cosiness that a standalone house provided so the sect made sure to have plenty such houses available. Li Yang was one such person, but his house was located a fair bit of distance away from the third lecture hall so he had to take two small spatial arrays to reach his home.
Arrays were special things that could be drawn up using the blood of either cultivators or Demonic beasts, monsters that could absorb Qi to grow just like a cultivator would. The blood was mixed with other ingredients and Qi and then used to draw images consisting of countless lines and runes that would gather together to allow the array to produce an effect once it was provided with energy. And spatial arrays were among the highest form of arrays, they could bend and fold space, teleporting people across vast distances if provided with enough energy.
The spatial arrays were maintained by the sect and were free for the disciples to use so Li Yang didn't have to pay anything and quickly reached his house. But as he arrived by the rectangular one-story building, he saw a slightly scarred and weathered man with crimson eyes and needle-like light-brown hair sitting on the terrace extending around the door. The two men noticed each other straight away, the scarred man standing up with a straight expression while Li Yang politely cupped his hands.
"It has been a while, Elder Brother Voyun. I see that you've gotten more scars, is it perhaps about time for you to tell your wife that you need to calm things down a little in the bedroom? If she is going to scar you like that, how are you ever going to be able to look at your children without having them piss their pants in fear?"
Li Yang's tongue and manner remained the same as always, even when facing one of his elder brothers. Li Voyun didn't show much response to Li Yang's taunts, his expression only sank by a nearly imperceptible degree. He stopped in front of Li Yang and towered above him, reaching a little over two metres while Li Yang was only standing at around 1.70.
"I heard that you made a mockery of Sister Miu's class and even taunted the male disciples just to get a rise out of them? Father says it's high time for you to stop playing these childish games of yours and take things a bit more seriously, you'll never amount to anything if you follow down this path of yours."
There was no greeting or exchange of pleasantries, Li Voyun simply went straight for the somewhat soft yet stoic scolding his father told him to deliver, his expression never once showing much emotion. Li Yang responded to Li Voyun's stoic expression by maintaining a slightly bland yet carefree smile and shrugging his shoulders.
"Take things more serious, and end up like you guys? No thanks, there's already too many serious people like you in the world, it's about time that it gets someone a bit more carefree in it."
Li Voyun maintained his silence for a short while as he looked down at Li Yang, who matched his gaze and didn't falter, a carefree yet proud light swimming around in his pupils. Li Voyun broke the silence by swiping a leather bracelet he wore, a watermelon-sized wooden plaque appearing in his grasp. The bracelet was a type of interspatial treasure, an item that had been created by both a forging master to contain a small spatial pocket where you could freely put in or take out items after using your Qi to form a connection with it. He handed the wooden plaque, which was engraved with the words Third King, to Li Yang and spoke calmly.
"Father wishes to see you. Whether or not you can truly retain your carefree ways, I hope you'll show me the answer to that."
Li Yang's expression grew a bit heavier as he accepted the plaque, which radiated a faint warmth. Li Voyun nodded his head to Li Yang and then started to walk away, having finished the task that he came for. Li Yang looked at the plaque for a bit and spat out a heavy breath, tracing the words engraved on the plaque.
The item lit up when Li Yang finished tracing the words, a constricting feeling coiling around his entire body as he was teleported away, the scenery around him twisting and warping. When the warping subsided and he regained control of his body, Li Yang found himself standing within a rather large room where the walls were completely lined with full bookshelves. The floor beneath him was covered in a light blue and soft furry carpet, a dark-brown wooden desk standing a few metres in front of him, various documents scattered across it.
And sitting behind the desk and peering over the documents was a tall and burly man with crimson eyes and flowing black hair that hung down past his nearly square chin, an oppressive sense of power radiating from his every pore. This man was Li Yang's father, the Wave King and the Third Elder of the Deepsea King sect, Li Tian. His father didn't even raise his head from the document he was reading, only giving Li Yang a quick glance before returning to his reading, his bass and deep voice nearly hitting Li Yang like a hammer.
"Li Yang, how long until your 15th birthday?"
Li Yang's lips twisted slightly at the expected scene, his father had lived for so long that he currently had seven wives and over 300 concubines. He had so many children that it wasn't strange for him to forget when all of them were born, even if that child came from one of his seven wives.
Li Yang was a bit resentful at how distant Li Tian was, but he did actually respect Li Tian a great deal, he served as one of the pillars of the Deepsea King sect and protected the lives of countless people. He had fearlessly waded into battle on more than one occasion to protect not just the sect itself, but also just branch offshoots or smaller sects that had shown their loyalty. Li Yang cupped his hands respectfully and dipped into a fractal bow while giving an equally short response.
"Twelve days."
Li Tian's pupils stopped moving for a split-second upon receiving the answer, seemingly making a few calculations or going through a few thoughts in his mind. He gave a short nod of his head after he organized his thoughts, placing down the document he was reading and fully placing his eyes on Li Yang, his gaze practically piercing into him.
"Good, I'll have the World-rending Behemoth sect bring over their younger disciples for the usual sparring matches at the same time. Once the sparring matches are over I will announce your betrothal to the 33rd daughter of their Second Elder, she will be your principal wife. We want to use this as an opportunity to bring the two sects closer to make it easier to resist the growing Heaven's Gate sect. We will deal with the betrothal and the announcement, but I'll leave the actual date of the wedding and how to deal with those who resist or are displeased with you acquiring her up to you. I'll also leave it up to you whether or not you want to take part in the sparring matches, I know you won't disappoint me."