BUTTERFLIES (Arc 2&3; The Undefeatable Class 192)

Chapter 103: Xianxian's Camaraderie

  Taking down my imaginary hat for the standing corps going by the name of Xianxian, I choked mouthfuls of left over popcorns into my mouth.

  Immediately, at that moment, I froze halfway from dabbing another mouthful, when I sensed a sudden change in Xianxian's aura when Toby was already this close, and couldn't change speed.

  Xianxian's wings sprouted out to full glory, behind him, once again. He made them move before him, as if trying to wrap him. Then the aura thickened, and it was obvious the thick smell affected Toby. He staggered as he slammed his meteor hammer against Xianxian's wings.

  'Boom!' A vibration effect ensued, causing a great expanse of dust to cover the scene, something not less than how Blackie's all-out cannonball should have been, causing a deeper crater on the field, than the previous.

  'Reveal.' My Eye of Insight lit up and dug through the dusty mist.

  Standing there was still Xianxian, wrapped in his dragon wings. He unwrapped himself, then smirked. He spoke, and his voice, I was sure, was very easily heard by everyone of us.

  "There's one more thing you don't know about me. I'm a Meditation realm cultivator."

  With a flap of his wings, probably charged with true essence, the mist was expelled to reveal Toby lying in the ground, with blood protruding his nose and the corner of his mouth.

  Xianxian walked towards him and helped him up, pumping some true essence to help him circulate some energy he could use, at least, to walk.

  I caught Teacher Haggz nodding secretly.

  So, one thing that has been clear throughout the class' fight was that, although one's cultivation level wasn't always a determiner of winner and loser, a single cultivation difference could be as large as the heavens and the earth.

  Xianxian flew away with Toby, after the latter had stowed away his weapon. They landed gently over a lush of sprouting grasses.

  Xianxian's gesture was sincerely very thoughtful. In fact, so far, he had shown the best camaraderie; taking in the fact that Lingxi was currently not in the right sense to heal, and that he was a notch higher than his opponent. This was something Zhangkong clearly failed in, and I was sure this would cost him marks.

  Okay, something had to be wrong here, right? How could Xianxian show that much strength against Toby while Jaded, who should have been much stronger than him (the clan stuff and all), was easily defeated by Xueyi's sneak attack?

  I had to push that behind my mind for later pondering over. Even in this fight, it seemed everyone was holding back, right?

    "Take me to the hard ground, please?" Toby's weak voice said.

  I looked towards his direction and met the sight of his broken arm, and couldn't help but feel weird in my stomach.

  "Huh?" Xianxian said, obviously confused.

  "My gift... it's element type. I need to be on the floor to heal or the hand may get worse," Toby's brows were furrowed real hard that I could not help but imagine how painful it was to break an arm.

  "Uh." Xianxian consented and took him back to the field where there were still the aftermath of their fight.

  Toby groaned his thanks and placed the broken hand on the cracked soil, before shutting his eyes.

  Suddenly, a weird form of energy began to run through his veins and, if you looked really hard, you'd notice several crumps of earth dancing around his broken hand.

  'Cool. Is he healing his hand that way?'

  'Boom!' I'm not sure that was the response I expected, because when the ground resisted his seemingly trying to draw its essence, he ended up being blasted into the air.

  I don't know about you, but that hand was definitely destroyed for life.

  Decisively, Xianxian flew after Toby's body, after just surviving that explosion. He caught him just before his body could strike the ground.

  "Agh!" Toby groaned as he beheld his arm. The uniform had healed itself back, but one couldn't say the same of Toby's right arm. You wouldn't want to hear the description.

  "The earth's essence recoiled!" he roared again, this time tears gathering around his eyes. "Why did it recoil? Did you poison my hand?"

  He was writhing in pain. Even though he was not looking at Xianxian, everybody could tell he was the one being addressed to.

  For some unknown reason, Xianxian looked at Jaded, and — if my sense organ weren't failing me — he seemed to have been sending forth a pleading look.

  Jaded's stone cold face only managed a barely perceptible nod.