The First Cafeteria Skirmish

Hearing Guo Hao’s urgent tone, I couldn’t help but be slightly stunned. I asked instinctively, “What happened? Did Yang Laoer provoke some decent girl from another academy again and then get into a fight with her boyfriend?”

“No, it’s not that, sigh, no, actually, it’s probably something similar in the end… Anyway, hurry over. This time, Yang Laoer is likely to suffer a loss… Come quickly and think of a way to stop him.”

Guo Hao’s voice was somewhat hesitant and stammering. Then, from a distance, I heard Linghu Ruoxu’s voice through the phone.

“Yang Laoer, you need to calm down, calm down! Impulsiveness is the devil! Guo Hao, I, I can’t hold him back anymore, hurry over!”

“Just, just hurry. Anyway, come quickly, we’re downstairs at the first cafeteria. Hurry over, I’m afraid something serious will happen if you’re late!” Guo Hao hastily instructed me over the phone.

Then, a cacophony of noise erupted from the other end, as if Guo Hao had also rushed over to help restrain Yang Laoer. Ultimately, I was left with only a series of busy signals.

I took my phone away from my ear, staring blankly at the first cafeteria not far away. I bit my lip, then stomped my foot and quickly ran towards it.

****

By the time I frantically arrived at the first-floor hall of the cafeteria, a crowd had already formed a circle. Guo Hao and Linghu Ruoxu were helplessly mixed within it, both pairs of eyes fixed intently on the center of the circle, their expressions filled with concern.

“Guo Hao, Guo Hao, what, what happened?” With my cultivation lost and my stamina depleted, even those few steps had left me somewhat breathless. Panting, I squeezed my way towards Guo Hao and Linghu Ruoxu.

Fortunately, my current stature was petite, and I was a girl. Many people, seeing me blindly push my way through, unconsciously made way. Once I had squeezed, sweat-drenched, to Guo Hao’s side, I immediately asked him in a low voice, simultaneously following his gaze into the circle.

Inside the circle, roughly ten feet in diameter, formed by the onlookers, Yang Laoer stood with his right hand tucked into his robe, fighting with a single palm and arm. His fists blurred, and his sleeves whipped the air, as he battled a tall male student who appeared slightly older, locked in an intense, evenly matched struggle.

“That’s what happened… Fourth Brother, you arrived a step too late. Linghu Ruoxu and I couldn’t hold Yang Laoer back, and he ended up fighting someone,” Guo Hao responded in a low voice, a hint of shame on his face.

“How did the fight start, and who is that male student?” I asked, finding his explanation vague and lacking key details.

“Hmm, that male student, he might be Murong Fan. As for why they started fighting, well, it’s probably because of that girl, right?” Linghu Ruoxu, who was watching with a worried expression, quietly answered me.

However, the name Murong Fan truly caught me off guard. My focus immediately shifted from Yang Laoer’s match to the face of this person.

The male student was exceedingly handsome and charming, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes that sparkled with every glance. His demeanor carried a hint of aloofness, yet his every movement exuded an air of imperial grace. Frankly, Yang Laoer’s ancestor, Yang Guo, was a famous heartthrob in the *Records of Jianghu*, known for the saying, ‘One look at Yang Lang, and a lifetime is ruined.’ The extent of Senior Yang Guo’s good looks was evident from this, and Yang Laoer, as his direct descendant, was naturally not far behind. His face was like polished jade, his lips were crimson, his brows were like dragons, his eyes like phoenixes, and his countenance was refined. However, compared to his opponent, he ultimately lacked a certain imposing aura. The reason, perhaps, wasn’t poor genetic inheritance, but rather Yang Laoer’s later vulgar conduct…

In terms of appearance, the two could be considered roughly equal, separated by mere inches. But when it came to martial arts, they were almost incomparable, for this Murong Fan’s martial prowess was renowned throughout the entire university.

Tianwu University’s undergraduate program traditionally had a ranking of the ‘Ten Great Masters.’ My roommate in the girls’ dormitory, Senior Sister Xiao Ru, was one of them, ranked third as the ‘Dragon-Subduing Princess.’ However, immediately following her on this officially recognized school ranking was ‘Star-Shifting Young Master’ Murong Fan.

The saying goes, ‘Qiao Feng of the North, Murong of the South.’ After a hundred years of turbulent Jianghu, at this moment within Tianwu University, that phrase should perhaps be changed to ‘Xiao Feng of the East, Murong of the West.’ Although the Xiao family belonged to a Khitan minority, due to their ancestors’ legacy, many of their descendants studied in the Northern Beggar specialization of the Five Absolutes Academy in Tianwu University’s East District.

Conversely, the Murong family, owing to the imperial court’s educational policy of ‘universal schooling and integration of Hu and Han cultures,’ settled in the Northern Barbarian Academy in Tianwu University’s West District. There, they established the Gusu Murong specialized program. As the exceptionally talented and brilliant scion of the Murong family in this generation, Murong Fan naturally pursued a bachelor’s degree in this specialization.

Compared to Senior Sister Xiao Ru, who ranked third, Murong Fan, who seemingly ranked fourth, appeared to be a step behind, much like how ‘Southern Murong’ was inferior to ‘Northern Qiao Feng’ in the past. However, what was truly astonishing was that this ‘Star-Shifting Young Master’ was only a sophomore, a year younger than Senior Sister Xiao Ru. His future, therefore, seemed boundless.

Moreover, while it was said he might be half a step weaker than the ‘Dragon-Subduing Princess,’ the person currently clashing blades with him was our very own Yang Laoer. This fellow hadn’t even earned a nickname, let alone a spot on the ‘Ten Great Masters’ ranking!

That being said, the ‘Western Lunatic’ Yang family was certainly no pushover. Although Yang Laoer’s conduct was vulgar and his lust remained unbridled, his martial arts cultivation possessed unique strengths. As the two figures intertwined, their footwork intricate, palms striking and fingers jabbing, they remained evenly matched and locked in an inseparable struggle for a time.

After watching for a while, I quietly asked Guo Hao with some surprise, “When did Yang Laoer’s martial arts improve to such an extent that he can fight evenly with someone from the Ten Great Masters?”

Guo Hao sighed, a gloomy expression still on his face. He slowly replied in a low voice, “You know as well as I do that his Yang family’s ‘Sorrowful Palms’ technique connects the palm with the heart, generating power from emotion… Perhaps that’s why Yang Laoer is so fierce right now?”

The phrase, ‘Sorrowful only at parting,’ was what Senior Yang Guo, the ancestor of the Yang family, used to name this peerless palm technique. It was because he created this technique while separated from his beloved wife for sixteen years, their fates unknown. Thus, the internal energy of this palm technique was tied to one’s state of mind, and its moves were secretly connected to one’s sorrow. The more sorrowful and heartbroken one became, the more astonishingly powerful the palm technique’s force!