The snowflakes still flew around Ye Futian and Hua Jieyu.
No one had anticipated that Hua Jieyu would stand up for Ye Futian this time, not to mention the fact that she had protected Ye Futian by directly threatening a director in the academy.
So many hearts broke. Were they already dating?
However, their viewpoints had changed slightly. They didn't feel pity for Hua Jieyu. In fact, they understood that Ye Futian was the only boy qualified enough to become her partner.
Subconsciously, their views about Ye Futian had transformed entirely after the fight. He now symbolized dedication and talent in their minds.
Even Yang Xiu and Ling Xiao, who used to look down upon Ye Futian, had changed. The one they once ridiculed was the only one able to defeat a Mandate Sorcerer, challenge the rules of the academy and utterly reject the idea of becoming the disciple of a Hall Director. He had never taken them seriously before.
Feng Qingxue was also staring at Ye Futian and Hua Jieyu. It looked like she had tears welling up. She thought maybe the Goddess of this academy was the only one that deserved a boy as great as Ye Futian. She had used to believe she was out of his league, but now, she knew that it was the other way around.
Shi Zhong had not expected to see Hua Jieyu stand up for Ye Futian. She had even threatened him for this boy's sake. He couldn't help swearing to himself. Undoubtedly, love among young people was so consuming that even a girl as wise as Hua Jieyu could get lost in her feelings.
"Hua Jieyu, this is none of your business. Step away," Shi Zhong spoke gently to her. He knew how powerful this girl was and how influential her family was, so he didn't dare act harshly to her, even after being obviously threatened.
"You don't get my point, do you?" She was still smiling in such a beautiful manner that it totally contradicted her cold tone of voice. She was utterly humiliating Shi Zhong in public.
Shi Zhong became even more upset and stopped trying to hide it. No matter how remarkable this girl was, he was still a director at the academy, and he was the elder in this conversation. How frustrating it was to be threatened twice by a young girl, in front of the students no less.
"Listen, this should be taken care of by the academy. Even your father wouldn't interfere," Shi Zhong's tone turned rigid.
Hua Jieyu looked him in the eye and kept talking. "So you're telling me that you'll never regret the decision you just made, right?"
"Of course," Shi Zhong responded. "Ye Futian betrayed this academy with all the powerful talents he gained there. If he ever attended Heiyan Academy and turned his back on us, the damage could be tremendous. His abilities must be taken to prevent this treachery."
Hua Jieyu was laughing at Shi Zhong's statement. She did not even try to hide her contempt. Was he being serious?
"I gave you a chance to redeem yourself, but it's gone," Hua Jieyu mumbled as if talking to herself. The moment she stopped, the snowflakes surrounding them turned into a frenzy. The wind blew harder in the area, and everyone was feeling frostbitten. A general sense of threat was impending. Even though people had tried to attribute this to the snow, they believed it was actually anger from the beautiful girl.
"Whose power are you going to strip?"
A cold voice sounded on the far side of the space. There was a path between the rows of trees, already white due to the massive snowfall, and someone was walking down the road toward them.
The man was wearing a white fur coat and had long black hair that casually covered his shoulders.
He was middle-aged and truly handsome, like a melancholy scholar. He was walking slowly, but his pace was magically attracting the attention of all the bystanders.
In fact, he was walking faster than his pace seemed to allow. In a short while, he was approaching the crowd, and people had the chance to look clearly at his face.
"This gentleman is unparalleled by the rest of the world." People were amazed by this incredibly handsome man. Both his appearance and temperament were just perfect. People believed that when he was young, he must have been a real lady's man.
"Mr. Hua," the big chiefs of the academy, even the directors, greeted him. Shi Zhong, however, looked upset at the fact that he had arrived.
The students of Qingzhou Academy were shocked to suddenly see someone that was called "Mr." by all the big chiefs, even the directors. Who was he?
"Father?" Hua Jieyu greeted. The students finally realized why Hua Jieyu had such superior power at this academy, even strong enough for her to confront a director. It was no wonder anymore, when even the directors had to greet her father respectfully.
Plus, his face definitely explained where Hua Jieyu's beauty had come from.
Hua Fengliu nodded, then turned to look at Shi Zhong, "Answer me, now."
"Mr. Hua, excuse me for the misunderstanding. I would never dare to strip the abilities of your daughter. I did not mean any harm to Ms. Hua." Shi Zhong said politely.
"I know." Hua Fengliu understood that Shi Zhong didn't have the guts to threaten his daughter. He turned back and looked at Ye Futian. "Then he is your target, right?"
Shi Zhong nodded and pointed to Ye Futian. "Mr. Hua, this boy is a student of Qingzhou Academy. He was committing treachery by trying to quit the academy and join our enemy. To prevent further treachery, his abilities and talents must be removed. Jieyu was trying to stop me for a reason I do not understand."
"Is he telling the truth?" Hua Fengliu asked the boy.
"Professor, how could this be true?" Ye Futian shook his head with a wry smile. He knew that Mr. Hua should have been informed of what really happened.
"Professor?" Shi Zhong was shocked by this form of address. His face suddenly became pale.
He could not believe that Ye Futian had been a disciple of Hua Fengliu and that Hua Fengliu had come here not to stand up for his daughter, but for this boy.
Shi Zhong now felt cold, his back dripping with sweat. He felt the temperature around his body drop. Even with his Plane, he felt true coldness.
"My disciple just fought for the honor of Qingzhou Academy, but now you're trying to deprive him of all his power?" Hua Fengliu sounded peaceful, but everyone realized that he was concealing his anger. He stepped forward a bit toward Shi Zhong. People noticed that Shi Zhong was actually trembling.
Hua Fengliu gave his ultimatum."Looks like you have been the Director of the Hall of Earth Element long enough."
His beautiful eyes suddenly turned white and glowed. Horrifying lights shot out of his eyes. His hair flew around his shoulder from the storm wind he had caused. The storm took a moment to form, then suddenly rushed toward Shi Zhong.
Shi Zhong had no choice but to defend himself. He summoned the earth-element Spiritual Qi of the universe to form a wall to protect against Hua Fengliu's attack.
However, it didn't work at all. The wall was shattered in a moment, and Hua Fengliu reached his hand out toward Shi Zhong. The wind around his body formed an invisible hand that clamped around his neck and lifted his body into the air.
"Mr. Hua, forgive me. I did not know he was your disciple!" Shi Zhong was yelling for mercy, but his voice was hoarse from his throat being clamped.
"Now you know." Hua Fengliu became frenzied. The white lights from his eyes were horrifying. He smashed Shi Zhong's body to the ground so hard that a fissure appeared.
The big chiefs could not do anything but watch as Shi Zhong was being smashed to the ground and lifted into the air repeatedly. Two sounds were resonating around the space—the sound of Shi Zhong hitting the ground and his screams. People could only feel pity for Shi Zhong, because even as a director, he shouldn't have pissed off someone as powerful as Mr. Hua.
After a while, the torture finally stopped. The earth wasn't shaking anymore. Hua Fengliu put his hand down, and his eyes became peaceful again. He explained to those who were still shocked by what had happened, "Sorry, I have bad temper."
Ye Futian's eyes widened, and he couldn't stop looking at Mr. Hua. He had never imagined that a gentleman like his professor could be as violent as this. However, he believed it was cool for a real man to switch between being calm and collected to as violent as Mr. Hua was.
Other directors of Qingzhou Academy could only smile wryly. Leng Qingfeng started speaking, "Mr. Hua, I feel so sorry for our mistakes. We will definitely make compensation to Ye Futian for our errors in the future."
"Future? There is no future. This academy does not deserve him," Mr. Hua sounded peaceful again. Leng Qingfeng stopped talking because he understood that as long as Mr. Hua had already accepted Ye Futian, it would be unnecessary for Ye Futian to become an official student at the academy. But in this case, there was also no way Ye Futian would betray this academy.
They just wondered when Ye Futian had become his disciple.
Soon, Leng Qingfeng was reminded of a past occurrence. Before the Fall Quarter Exam, there was a dragon wandering in Mount Tianyao. They heard that a daredevil boy had gone deep into the mountain and was attacked by the dragon. Later the boy was taken away by Hua Fengliu. People were focused on dealing with the dragon since it was so late at night, and didn't pay attention to who was attacked. When they finally tried to find the boy, he was already gone.
It had been months, and people had forgotten about this. Now they finally realized that Ye Futian was the boy who was attacked by the dragon.
"Let's go," Hua Fengliu said.
"Okay," Ye Futian nodded, then Hua Jieyu, Yu Sheng and him left with Hua Fengliu.
"That was just awesome, Professor. What was that? A spell or a martial arts technique? Why have I never seen that before?" Ye Futian kept asking.
"You will know, in the future." Hua Fengliu smiled at him.
Ye Futian could not stop his curiosity. He looked at Hua Jieyu and asked her, "Fox, mind telling me?"
Hua Jieyu smiled back at him, "Sorry, no comment."
"Phew…" Ye Futian sighed and mumbled, "I thought you were in love with me when you stood up for me. Am I wrong?"
The smile on her face was suddenly gone. She gave Ye Futian a malevolent look then ran to her father.
However, Yu Sheng was looking at Ye Futian with admiration. This guy had just flirted with the daughter of his professor. He believed the professor would become Ye Futian's father-in-law someday in the future.