Ten Thousand Carp Paying Homage to the Dragon!

It all happened so quickly and so suddenly that no one had time to react.

At the same time Zhang Chen charged, his two companions beside him sprang into action as well.

They prepared to attack Li Mu Yang from three directions, forming an elliptical encirclement—although deep down, they felt Zhang Chen alone could easily knock Li Mu Yang down. But if Zhang Chen beat someone up by himself, wouldn't that make him look savage and violent? That would be bad for preserving the image of Zhang Chen, the campus god.

If the three of them attacked together, they would look far more imposing and domineering, while also making people feel that they were loyal friends.

They had only run halfway when Zhang Chen went flying. The sudden shift in the situation left them flustered.

The planned straight-line charge suddenly curved into a huge wave. They skirted around Li Mu Yang, then stared blankly at his back from a distance.

"What just happened?" They had all been busy running and had not had time to see.

Li Mu Yang looked at his fist in confusion.

What exactly had happened just now? Why had he suddenly been overcome by such a violent, furious emotion?

The old Li Mu Yang had always followed the principle of enduring whatever could be endured. As long as the other party did not bully him too excessively, he would cheerfully cooperate. That was because only then could he suffer the least and lightest injuries—who could blame him, when he could not beat them?

Besides, how could someone who normally did not even have the strength to truss a chicken send Zhang Chen flying with one punch?

And he had not even used much force—he really wanted Zhang Chen to get up and let him punch him again, just to see what was going on.

Zhang Chen groaned and struggled to climb to his feet.

He looked at Li Mu Yang with three parts astonishment and seven parts terror.

The force Li Mu Yang had unleashed in that instant had shocked him. How could Li Mu Yang possess such strength?

He hated people who pretended to be pigs while eating tigers!

Scritch—

Scritch—

Scritch—

Li Mu Yang stepped through the grass, walking toward Zhang Chen one step at a time.

"Were you trying to attract Cui Xiaoxin's attention?" Li Mu Yang asked.

This time, it was his turn to look down at Zhang Chen from above. The feeling was indeed wonderful. Even his dark face seemed to become much more handsome, turning into the Empire's idol, Louis Koo.

Zhang Chen opened and closed his mouth, but could not say a word, like a herbivorous fish that had accidentally leaped onto shore and was about to die of thirst.

Although he did not turn around to look, he knew Cui Xiaoxin was standing at the back of the crowd. She always liked to stand at the very rear, seeming to keep a certain distance from everyone.

Could he deny Li Mu Yang's question? No.

"You used the wrong method." Li Mu Yang looked at Zhang Chen with regret, gently shaking his head and sighing. "Cui Xiaoxin is the kind of clever, reserved, and proud girl who likes men that are refined, wise, restrained, yet capable of controlling the whole situation. You keep coming over to taunt me and bully me, thinking that this shows how strong and dazzling you are?"

The girl, quiet as a lily, parted her lips as if to speak, but in the end said nothing.

Her gaze was like a sharp blade, flaying Li Mu Yang's flesh layer by layer to see what was truly going on in his heart.

This guy is not only ugly, but annoying too, the girl thought.

"Actually, in Cui Xiaoxin's eyes, this is nothing but a pathetic little trick, an ugly spectacle worthy only of contempt and disdain. You treat me like a clown anyone can bully, and in Cui Xiaoxin's eyes, your bullying me is likewise nothing more than a clown's ridiculous performance—"

Li Mu Yang pointed at his own face and said, "Look at my face—you're more handsome than me. At least you're fairer than me."

"You're bigger and taller than me, and you're smarter than me—oh, right, you also know how to play cuju and polo. A lot of the time, I wish I could become you—"

"A philosopher once said: to see a person's level, look at who his opponent is. By choosing someone like me as your opponent—or rather, as the person you bully—you've dragged yourself down to my level. Do you think someone like that can win Cui Xiaoxin's affection? How childish."

"Li Mu Yang, you—"

"I'm very ordinary." Li Mu Yang spread his lips into a smile. His lively eyes, as black as his skin, held an indescribable charm. They were the only striking feature on his entire face—or rather, his entire body. He said, "But you're pitiful."

Zhang Chen was thoroughly enraged. He lunged forward, grabbed Li Mu Yang by the throat, and snarled, "Li Mu Yang, who are you calling pitiful? Who are you calling pitiful?"

"They're fighting! They're fighting—"

"Someone, come quickly! Pull them apart—"

"Teacher, someone's fighting—"

--

"Use some strength." The red light rose again in Li Mu Yang's eyes as he glared at Zhang Chen and growled, "Use some strength, just like when you used to grind me beneath your foot."

"Pfft—" Zhang Chen spat out a mouthful of blood, perhaps because his internal injuries were severe, but more likely because he was choking on his rage and frustration.

The crazed Zhang Chen was eventually dragged to his feet. He kicked Li Mu Yang's fishing rod flying and sneered, "Li Mu Yang, what right does a useless piece of trash like you have to pity me? You're no good at literature, no good at martial arts, and ugly to boot. You come in dead last in the entire school every time you take an exam—and you can't even catch a fish when you go fishing. Do you think you'll ever amount to anything? You'll spend your whole life as nothing but a Pig who eats, waits, and dies."

Li Mu Yang rubbed his reddened neck and said with a smile, "You were just sent flying by one punch from me."

"—"

Zhang Chen tapped Li Mu Yang on the head with one finger, then turned and strode away.

The group of lackeys behind him stood frozen for a while. They examined Li Mu Yang seriously, as if they had never seen him before, then hurried after Zhang Chen.

The spectacle ended and the crowd dispersed. Li Mu Yang sat alone in the grass beside the lake, staring blankly into space.

He was always alone.

Just as before.

"Li Mu Yang—" The girl's voice was clear and pure, like the arc left in the air by a kingfisher's glide.

Li Mu Yang turned to look and found that Cui Xiaoxin was still standing where she had been.

This time, things were somewhat different from usual.

"Whether you agree with what I said or criticize me for being wrong, none of that matters—actually, do you know? Just by staying behind to speak with me, you've made everyone else look at me strangely—with surprise, jealousy, or even envy. A dazzling flower suddenly blooming atop a heap of mud is indeed a rare and fresh sight. For me, in the end, it's still an advantage. If I were you, I would pretend nothing had happened just now."

Without turning around, Li Mu Yang knew what a shock it was to the others that the campus beauty had stayed behind to talk to him.

Cui Xiaoxin had not expected Li Mu Yang to say something like that. A layer of mist appeared in her beautiful eyes, then vanished in an instant, leaving them clear to the bottom. After pondering for a moment, she said, "You guessed two things correctly, and you were wrong about two things."

"Looks like you're willing to keep talking with me. This is our first proper conversation, isn't it?" Li Mu Yang said with a smile.

"First, I don't like Zhang Chen. In my eyes, his behavior really is that of a clown seeking attention."

"Second, I do like the kind of man you described—a refined, wise, restrained man with powerful control over the situation. He has ability, but does not constantly show it off. That is the type of man I like."

Li Mu Yang nodded and said, "Then what did I get wrong?"

"First, I never thought you were a clown. You're just an ordinary person, like countless other ordinary people. You haven't done anything wrong, it's just—"

"It's just that fate has treated me too unfairly." Li Mu Yang smiled in self-mockery. "My family is poor, I'm ugly, and my head is full of paste—I'm no good at literature or martial arts, so I can only accept fate's arrangement and become a useless person who eats and waits for death, right?"

A strange light once again bloomed in Cui Xiaoxin's pupils. This Black Charcoal, mocked and bullied all day long, famous far and wide yet low-key and silent, seemingly without a single outstanding quality, actually possessed such keen thoughts and such a razor-sharp tongue?

"I was just saying whatever came to mind." Li Mu Yang peeled a stalk of sugarcane grass and put it in his mouth to chew. The sweet juice made him feel a little better. "Go on."

"The reason flowers can bloom atop mud is that it is inevitable. Although the mud seems inconspicuous on the surface, it actually contains abundant energy capable of nourishing flowers and allowing them to bloom—it gives everything it has to prove its worth through the blossom above its head."

"You think I'm like that heap of mud, and can still be saved?" Li Mu Yang broke into a grin. "Then would you be willing to—"

"I'm not." Cui Xiaoxin rejected him directly. "I'm going to the West Wind Academy, and where will you be going? We're not people from the same world. Our futures will never intersect."

"That's true." Li Mu Yang smiled bitterly. "That's also why, even though I liked you, I never confessed to you."

"What?"

"Isn't that perfectly normal? Like all boys going through adolescence, I was always filled with longing for beautiful girls. We liked Xu Jiarui, we liked Zhang Xinqi, and we liked you too. We hoped to shine as brightly as you did, hoped we could walk beside you, and even imagined you sitting beside us with smiles blooming like flowers."

"But beautiful girls always set their sights on more outstanding men—we can only watch from afar. If some beautiful girl suddenly comes over and says a few words to us, neither warm nor cold, that is already a heaven-sent blessing." Li Mu Yang tilted his face up toward the clouds overhead. "What else could we do?"

Cui Xiaoxin fell silent for a long while. At last, her voice held a more complicated emotion as she said, "Good luck."

With that, she turned and walked toward the place where the main group had gathered.

The lake outing was over. What awaited them was a cruel battle.

"Cui Xiaoxin—" Li Mu Yang suddenly called out.

Cui Xiaoxin turned to look. She did not understand what this boy, with whom she had never had any dealings before, still wanted to say to her.

In truth, whatever he said would be useless. She could not accept love out of pity.

"I rejected it." Li Mu Yang called out.

"What?"

"You invited me to go watch the grand show with you. I rejected it." Li Mu Yang's voice rang out clearly.

Under the sunlight, Cui Xiaoxin's pretty face resembled lustrous jade, almost transparent. She stared coldly at Li Mu Yang and said, "Idiot."

The sun sank in the west. Wrapped in crimson light, the shore of Sunset Lake held a grand, dreamlike beauty tinged with sorrow.

Li Mu Yang put away his fishing rod and prepared to head home with the main group.

Whoosh—

On the calm, tranquil lake, its surface glittering with scales of light, a multicolored koi suddenly leaped into the air.

As if it had received some kind of signal, countless more koi leaped from Sunset Lake.

There were thousands upon thousands, stretching without end. They blotted out the sky and covered the earth, their colorful scales joining into one vast sheet that concealed half the lake.

In places invisible to the naked eye, even more carp surged toward this place, as if on a pilgrimage.

They rushed in the direction Li Mu Yang had left, as though following the faith they cherished most loyally.

If an experienced old man had witnessed this scene, he would certainly have cried out in shock: Ten Thousand Carp Paying Homage to the Dragon—this was the Ten Thousand Carp Paying Homage to the Dragon, a sight that appeared only once in a millennium!