For a brief, stunned moment, there was complete silence.
Steve dropped like a heavy sack. His body hit the stone ground with a loud thud. His once-proud face was now a bloody, swollen mess with missing teeth. Blood slowly dripped from his mouth, forming a small pool beneath him.
Then the courtyard exploded with noise.
"Did you see that?!"
"Steve got destroyed! He didn't even last three moves!"
"That punch... it shook the whole ground! Look at the cracked stones!"
"Is he... is he dead?"
The fat student stumbled backward, his face going through different emotions—shock, horror, then a sick green color as he realized something terrible. His throat moved as he tried not to throw up.
He had swallowed Steve's tooth.
The taste of blood and tooth filled his mouth, making his stomach turn. Several students near him stepped back in disgust as he bent over, trying not to be sick.
Reiner stood frozen, his mouth hanging open. His mind couldn't understand what he had just seen. "That... that wasn't Ki Refining level," he whispered, his voice barely heard above the crowd. "That kind of raw power... that was definitely Ki Warrior level strength. But how? When did Ye Xian get so strong?"
His voice faded as he understood what this meant. The friend he thought he knew—who should be at the same level as him—had just easily crushed a peak Ki Refining fighter like he was nothing. No fancy moves. No special weapons. No flashy energy attacks. Just pure, overwhelming strength.
The crowd went quiet again as Ye Xian looked at them. No one dared look him in the eyes. Even the older students who had been watching for fun now looked worried, suddenly realizing they had badly misjudged this seemingly normal young man.
Ye Xian brushed off his robes calmly, his movements slow and controlled. "You're lucky I'm not in the mood for a real fight," he said coolly looking at the fatty, his voice easily heard across the silent courtyard.
The fat boy squeaked like a scared animal and rushed toward Steve's still body. With shaking hands, he grabbed his friend's arms and started dragging the limp body across the stone ground, leaving a thin trail of blood. He moved frantically, desperately—like a rabbit running from a wolf.
Reiner finally found his voice, though it came out weak. "We should leave. Before the Disciplinary Hall sends someone. Things could get... messy."
Ye Xian nodded once, quick and firm. He wasn't scared of any trouble—his actions had clearly been self-defense—but staying longer would only bring unwanted attention. Even if the disciplinary enforcers came, anyone who saw the fight knew exactly who had started it, and who had tried many times to avoid fighting.
They had only taken a few steps toward the main building when a strong voice cut through the air.
"Stop right there!"
The voice belonged to a young man around twenty years old, wearing the special purple robes of the Disciplinary Hall. His name was Wen Guo, and he stepped out from behind some decorative trees where he had been hiding, watching the whole fight with calculating eyes.
The crowd of students turned in surprise, many gasping loudly as they saw the purple robes for the first time. Even the fat boy froze while dragging Steve, his friend's body lying awkwardly behind him. Whispers immediately spread through the group like fire—no one had known a disciplinary enforcer had been there during the fight.
"There was a Disciplinary Hall member here the whole time?"
"Did he see everything?"
"Are we all in trouble now?"
Wen Guo had placed himself smartly from the very beginning, hidden behind the trees but able to see the courtyard clearly. When the students had first gathered around Steve and Ye Xian, drawn by the promise of a good show, he could have easily shown himself and stopped the fight immediately. Academy rules were clear about preventing unauthorized combat.
Instead, he had chosen to stay hidden and let the fight happen, his mind already thinking about the benefits. Catching rule-breakers in the act—especially with such clear proof and many witnesses—would earn him good merit points with his seniors in the Disciplinary Hall. Preventing fights was worth one point; successfully prosecuting violators was worth five.
What he hadn't expected was for the fight to end so fast and so completely. But as he looked at the aftermath—one student knocked out and clearly hurt, another obviously involved, and dozens of witnesses—his happiness only grew. This was even better than he had hoped.
"Where exactly do you think you're going after engaging in unauthorized combat?" Wen Guo demanded, stepping forward with the practiced authority of someone who had done this many times before. His voice carried the weight of official academy power.
"Don't you know that unsanctioned fighting on academy grounds is strictly forbidden? You've badly injured another student and could face serious punishment, including possible expulsion."
Ye Xian's mind immediately started working as he looked at the new situation. The crowd had become obviously nervous, suddenly realizing they had unknowingly watched what was apparently an illegal fight right in front of a disciplinary enforcer.
Some students were already backing away, clearly not wanting to be connected with the incident when official reports were written.
Wen Guo stood with obvious confidence, his posture showing the smugness of someone who believed he had found an easy victory. His eyes moved between Ye Xian, the unconscious Steve, and the scared fat boy like a hunter choosing which prey to catch first.
But Ye Xian was no longer the same person he had been before his rebirth and the partial fusion of Adler's memories and experiences. Though he had inherited only fragments—fleeting insights and scattered emotions—they were enough to spark change.
He began using those glimpses of a past life to reshape himself with quiet determination. The wisdom carried in those few memories altered his outlook, teaching him to understand people—their desires, their fears, their weaknesses—and, more importantly, how to read any situation and turn it to his advantage.
"A disciplinary enforcer!" Ye Xian said with obvious relief and gratitude, his voice carrying clearly to every student nearby.
"Thank heaven you're here! You must have seen everything that happened."
The crowd murmured uncertainly, confusion spreading through their ranks. This definitely wasn't the panicked reaction they had expected.
Wen Guo's confident look faltered slightly—this wasn't how these confrontations usually went. Students were supposed to stammer, make excuses, or try to run. They weren't supposed to sound happy to see him.
Ye Xian continued, his tone honest and grateful, like a citizen thanking a guard for protection.
"You witnessed how Steve attacked me without any reason, right? How I kept trying to calm things down? How I only defended myself using the least force possible?" He pointed toward Steve's still form with what seemed like real concern.
"I was so worried there might be trouble for defending myself, but since you saw the whole thing from start to finish..."
It was a brilliant move—by claiming that Wen Guo had seen everything, Ye Xian was forcing him into an impossible choice. Either admit he had been hiding and watching the entire time (making him partly responsible for allowing unauthorized combat to occur), or claim he had just arrived (which would completely destroy his authority to make specific accusations about what had happened).
"I... that is..." Wen Guo stammered, his mind racing as he suddenly realized the verbal trap he had walked into. This guy is more clever than I thought, he cursed silently.
"Oh!" Ye Xian's eyes widened with apparent sudden understanding, his expression shifting to one of confused concern. "You didn't actually see the beginning? You just arrived right now?" He looked around at the crowd with obvious worry.
"Then we definitely need multiple witnesses to explain what really happened. This is exactly why the academy has such detailed procedures for these kinds of situations."
Several students began nodding emphatically, their memories of Steve's aggressive behavior and clear instigation of the fight suddenly seeming very important. They also harbored a strong dislike for him—so they spoke up.
"Actually," said a girl near the decorative fountain, her voice carrying clearly, "Steve definitely started it. He was being really aggressive and threatening."
"Yeah," Reiner added, finding his courage. "Ye Xian tried to walk away many times. Steve wouldn't let him leave."
"Steve threw the first punch," added another student. "We all saw it."
Ye Xian respectfully spoke to Wen Guo, looking like a cooperative citizen.
"Since you're here now, perhaps you could take official statements from all the witnesses? I want to make sure everything is handled properly according to official academy regulations." He paused, as if a thought had just occurred to him, his expression becoming slightly worried.
"Though I imagine investigating this thoroughly will require quite a bit of paperwork and time..."