Chapter 190: The training begins
As the final order was being given at the National Pavilion before his removal, Dean Song He urged, “You two, hurry up and line up. Right there.”
Zhao Manyan went to the back of the line. It seemed to be the place for substitutes.
Zhao Manyan had already met Nanyu too. As they walked to the back of the line, he whispered into Mo Fan’s ears, “That girl is the second most difficult chick to pick up in this team!”
Mo Fan nodded in agreement. It was indeed challenging to tackle her down. Her pride and unyielding spirit as a soldier would easily crush any man’s dignity. Most importantly, even the girls would stand no chance against her peerless charm!
“Wait, second most difficult?” Mo Fan was startled. He glanced at Zhao Manyan who was wearing a perverted grin and asked, “There’s someone harder than her?”
“There, the one who’s also a substitute like us,” Zhao Manyan pointed at the girl who was standing all by herself, like an ice statue at the back of the line.
Mo Fan was busy talking to Zhao Manyan, thus he did not even notice there was someone standing at the back of the line.
Even though she was standing at the least remarkable spot, her long, silver hair was absolutely breathtaking. Her outstanding figure was covered in a tight-fitting long black dress with pear blossoms on it. Together with her pair of black heels, it was the perfect combination of iciness and beauty, like a black rose blossoming in a world of ice. Its loneliness and nobility granted it a deadly, seductive charm. It had a holiness that one could only observe from a distance, for fear of thorns covered in deadly poison!
Mo Fan could not see her from his previous angle. He immediately had a stunned expression when he took a closer look.
He did not even recognize her. His heart was beating fast, as if it was their first encounter!
Wasn’t...Wasn’t that his first wife!?
“There’s no smoke without fire... the girl is exactly the same as before, no different than a tightly-sealed ice crystal. Even anyone that tries to get close to her would be frozen to death, let alone trying to melt the ice in her heart!” whispered Zhao Manyan.
Zhao Manyan did try to approach and greet Mu Ningxue since they were both on the team that went to Jinlin City for training, but as he thought, Mu Ningxue simply acted like she had never met him before. He had no clue what kind of topic could possibly get her attention... apart from cultivation.
“Off you go, you mere peasants have no chance catching my goddess’ attention. She’s only acting like this because a perfect man like myself has already occupied her heart. Go talk with the others, I shall reunite with my first wife.” Mo Fan completely left Zhao Manyan aside.
Zhao Manyan could not care less, either. He would rather spend his time trying to pry open Nanyu’s steel heart than trying to touch Mu Ningxue’s icy heart. The difficulty to melt it was one reason, but on top of that, Mu Ningxue was even more dangerous than Nanyu. He had not forgotten the astonishing arrow she fired!
——
Mo Fan was a shameless man after all, and he simply went up to the girl.
Before Mo Fan could speak, Mu Ningxue calmly uttered, “You’re not dead still?”
“Oh Xuexue, the ‘still’ is completely unnecessary!” Mo Fan had an unpleasant look.
“Xinxia went to Greece?” asked Mu Ningxue.
“Mmm,” Mo Fan nodded.
“You should spend more time on her,” added Mu Ningxue.
Mo Fan opened his mouth wide.
Damn, the girl was a lot smarter now. She knew he would keep bothering her, thus she decided to strike preemptively!
Humph, she’s too naive if she thought mentioning about Xinxia was enough to make him leave. Mo Fan never felt guilty about dating two women at the same time!
He was far from an ambitious man[ his only life goal was to marry both of them. The country had already started the two-child policy, it was only a matter of time until the two-wife policy was in motion, too! Otherwise, he would consider applying for Arabian citizenship, since they were not as fussy about having two wives!
“Let’s not talk about something so serious, everything will turn out for the best... by the way, since when did you become a substitute?” Mo Fan asked with a confused look.
Mo Fan remembered Mu Nujiao had already told him that Mu Ningxue had secured a spot in the preliminaries, thus she was very likely to become an official candidate.
Mu Ningxue was extremely talented. Even though she was slightly younger than most of the candidates in the team, it did not make sense for her to only end up as a substitute.
“Were you the one that killed Mu He?” asked Mu Ningxue in return.
“I guess I’ve killed him indirectly,” answered Mo Fan.
Mo Fan had completely messed up Mu He’s plan. As a result, Salan ended up killing Mu He in anger. No one had seen it happening, but Salan could no longer keep his disguise. As Han Ji had mentioned, he was most likely trying his best to leave the country, so he had turned into an outcast.
During the time when Mo Fan was cultivating on Mount Hua, the government had cleaned up most of the Black Vatican’s underlings in the country. It was likely that in the next ten years, the Black Vatican would hardly be able to set up an operation in China...
“It’s quite terrifying,” Mu Ningxue took a deep breath. Her voice expressed the fear she felt when she learned that the Black Vatican had even infiltrated her family.
“Yeah, but what’s more terrifying is knowing that Salan has managed to escape the country. Not because he’s still alive out there, but it has shown us how corrupt our country is. Otherwise, there’s no way he could make it out of the country alive,” Mo Fan sighed.
“You did great, you’ve avenged the people of Bo City,” it was rare to hear a compliment from Mu Ningxue, which implied that she was indeed very impressed by Mo Fan’s contribution in the fight against the Black Vatican.
“Oh... so you’ve become a substitute because of Mu He?” Mo Fan immediately came to the realization.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“True, it’s only a matter of time until you become official again with your talents. Look at you, leaving your hands exposed in the cold weather. I’ll help you to warm them up... oh, Ningxue, what kind of person do you think I am? I’m just concerned about you, why are you so angry? Quick, get rid of the frost floating in front of me, I’ll let go of your hands right now. How narrow-minded, it’s nothing worth mentioning.”
Perhaps, it was the reason why Mu Ningxue had decided to strike preemptively.
She was not trying to stop Mo Fan from bothering him, but to stop him from getting fresh with her in the middle of the conversation!
Mo Fan stood close to Mu Ningxue. After all, he was a substitute too.
Mo Fan soon noticed a furious yet jealous gaze staring at him. It belonged to the man wearing a formal attire who had mocked Zhao Manyan before. Mo Fan had already learned that his name was Gong Yu from Zhao Manyan, one of the little shits that were interested in Mu Ningxue.
Mo Fan had always been open-minded. Although Mu Ningxue was his first wife, it did not mean that anyone else was not allowed to admire her.
Therefore, when dealing with Gong Yu or the others like him, Mo Fan learned that the most important thing was to have a proper attitude. Against people like him, all he needed to do was crush and trample them like dirt. It was as easy as that!
“Everyone is here.” The advisor with tiger stripes slowly walked forward and glanced at the thirteen people in the line.
The team had thirteen candidates: 11 official candidates and two substitutes; Zhao Manyan, and Mu Ningxue.
“Actually, we should have departed earlier. It wasn’t necessary to wait for a mere substitute,” said Gong Yu indifferently, yet it was obvious that he was referring to Zhao Manyan.
Mo Fan smiled without refuting it. They would be going on a long training trip as a team. The training was said to last more than a year. Didn’t that simply mean he has plenty of time to deal with this little shit named Gong Yu?
“I strongly advise that no one make any noise once I start to speak!” snapped the advisor.
Gong Yu immediately shut his mouth.
“Your final goal is to compete with the national teams from other countries at the City of Canals, Venice, during what is known as the World College Tournament. The training isn’t just so you can get enough real combat experience and knowledge to prepare yourself for the tournament. You will also need to secure the entry ticket for the World College Tournament. There are almost two hundred countries participating in the World College Tournament, but not every country is qualified to appear on the dueling grounds in the City of Canals...” said Feng Li in a firm tone.
The five advisors took turns to give their advice. Everyone listened to their words very seriously.
There was no grand ceremony to send off the team on their trip. The truth was, no one knew when the team was departing for the training, nor would they know the list of students who were on the team. The candidates would only show themselves in public during the opening ceremony of the World College Tournament at Venice!