The Card Cultivation System
CCS-227

Xika walked back from the Main Building in silence. He was still thinking about Jing Wei's attack earlier. Although many people had already considered him strong for successfully defeating Hua Zhantian, he still felt weak. Hua Zhantian's defeat was simply luck.

One of its strongest techniques was the element symbol. Usually, the symbol becomes an attack as well as a good defense. Unfortunately, the symbol was unable to hold on for a moment when it was attacked by Jing Wei. Of course, there are many reasons.

He was only a disciple, while Jing Wei was the Head of the Academy. He was at Foming Qi 6 while Jing Wei was somehow at what level. He was only a dozen years old while Jing Wei might have been decades old. Jing Wei had more experience than her. All of these are reasonable reasons.

But reason is only for the weak. He did not want to make that excuse his obstacle to getting stronger. If every time he lost he thought 'I lost, of course, he's older, bigger and more experienced than me' then he'll never get stronger.

As Xika thought, Huo Bing and Heiliao whispered to each other behind her. They came to an agreement and changed. Huo Bing turned into a bird and alighted on Xika's shoulder while Heiliao melted into Xika's shadow.

Xika did not pay much attention to the surroundings so she did not realize that Huo Bing and Heiliao were no longer walking beside her. He was only aware of his surroundings when he was surrounded by girls in green clothes and fighting knives.

One of the girls came forward and Xika recognized him. Lu Bei's.

He breathed tired. What does this girl want to do? Does he want to take revenge on Xika for defeating Hua Zhantian who should have defeated the girl?

"I heard you defeated Hua Zhantian in a landslide."

"Well, not really. Are you here because of that? Willing to repay me for defeating Hua Zhantian?"

"That's how it is" Lu Bei replied. Bizarrely. Usually he talks while giving a teasing smile before tearing his prey apart. But this time there was no smile on his face.

Lu Bei signaled the entire girl who was with him. Xika is on standby. His body was not in a good condition to fight at the moment. He looked back and only realized that Huo Bing and Heiliao were no longer with him.

Just when Xika thought Lu Bei was going to attack her, the girl did something that surprised her. The girl bowed to him. Nope. Not just the girl. But also the whole girl who was with him. They all bowed to him.

Xika was confused. Is this some new kind of combat tactic? Bowing to respect the opponent before finishing him off?

"Thank you."

"What?"

If this was some kind of fighting tactic, Lu Bei practiced it well.

"Thank you for taking our revenge."

Xika furrowed her brows. He carefully digested Lu Bei's sentence.

"We?"

"We. All the girls who are with me right now have a dark past with Hua Zhantian. We thank you for beating him."

Xika was confused as to what to answer. 'Sama-sama' seems to be less precise since he finished off Hua Zhantian purely out of his own will, not because of these girls.

Lu Bei and the other girls raised their heads and saw the look on Xika's face that was full of confusion and still implied vigilance.

"Just calm. This is not a trick." Lu Bei said with a smile. "Regardless of what your motive was to finish off Hua Zhantian, you still finished him off. And we thank you for that."

"Eh.....sama-sama?"

"In front of him, I won't attack you again when I meet. And so do my friends. Intentionally or not, you've helped us. Someday, we'll return this favor."

After saying that Lu Bei left together with those green girls. Without attack, without blades hovering, without sharp claws. Just a thank you.

Xika scratched her head for a while, still confused by what happened. Then he finally decided not to think about it too much.

He looked to the side and saw the faithful bicolor bird perched on his shoulder.

"Fucking Mature Half Birds! You purposely turned into a bird knowing they were coming huh? I guess your plan to let me fight with them didn't work?"

"That's it, more or less." replied the damn bird.

"Where is Heiliao? He has the same intentions as you?"

Xika's shadow rippled and sounded a snarl of approval.

Xika clucked in annoyance.

"About? Wh why? To make me strong?"

"Exactly. You think I don't know what you were thinking on the street? That Jing Wei kick is still stuck in your head isn't it? I have some motivation to encourage you, but it seems that will only sound like an excuse. So I'd better help you out in person instead of giving you useless crap."

"By letting me fight alone against dozens of crazy girls in green dress while my body is still not fully recovered?"

"Unfortunately, this is still in the Academy. Where murder is forbidden. Not the outside world."

"indeed not. But this could be the perfect training ground for you."

Xika shook her head. He could not argue with Huo Bing anymore. He stepped towards the Main Page. Just a moment ago, he only learned that there was a special place where the disciples could fight each other freely. And it's not far from the Main Page.

"ah! Xingli!"

It took a while for Xika to realize that she was the one who was called. He turned his head and found the man who asked for his whereabouts some time ago before he fought Hua Zhantian. The man wearing a uniform with the water flow emblem was imprinted on it.

"Hey, I got word regarding Xing Xika just a moment ago. Reportedly he defeated Disciple In number one? Hua is her name. Great huh?"

"Well, that's it." replied Xika origin.

Huo Bing who was a small bird in two colors turned to and fro looking for Xingli's whereabouts, not realizing that Xika was what the man meant.

"Where is he? After exhausting Hua Zhantian."

"That's it." Xika replied unconcerned.

"Well! Is that your pet? How lovely! Where did you buy it?" said the man abruptly while pointing at Huo Bing.

Xika followed the direction of the man's finger and looked at Huo Bing whom the man was referring to. Instantly he smiled widely.

"really. This is my pet! I didn't buy it. I found it in the woods while dying." Xika said 'my maintenance' quite loudly as if she wanted everyone to know about it.

"Hello!" said the man was about to touch Huo Bing. But Cygnix immediately pegged the approaching finger with great annoyance.

"Aw! He's pretty fierce huh. Are you having trouble taming her?"

"so. He's less friendly with strangers."

"Oh! Right too!" The man understood Xika's intentions. "I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself." He thrust out his hand, "I'm Liu Shang."

Xika just walked over ignoring Liu Shang's hand. "I've already introduced myself (despite lying)" Xika said as she passed.

Seeing Xika walking away, Liu Shang came back after her.

"Ah, hey! Xingli, have you never seen Xing Xika before?"

"Ever a few times."

Huo Bing furrowed his brows hearing Liu Shang summon Xika as Xingli. He wondered whose head was in trouble, Xika or Liu Shang.

"What does it look like? How's attitude? Is he arrogant like any other genius? Or is it different?"

Honestly, Xika was flattered to be seen as equivalent to a genius, even though a few years ago she was just a trash who could not cultivate. But then he remembered Tian Yin, and surely the man was called a genius as well, so he did not feel happy. It was better that he be equated with trash than a genius like Tian Yin.

"Eitherway. I didn't pay much attention to it."

Xika did not lie. He rarely notices his attitude or appearance.

"That's it...." Liu Shang walked over while nodding. Despite that, he still followed Xika.

Finally he arrived at the fighting arena. Xika called it that because there was no signboard or anything like that in that place. There were only a few platforms like the stage where the disciples were fighting.

"Well! What is this place?"

"Such a legal battle arena."

"Wow!"

Liu Shang looked around in admiration. Xika tried not to look like that even though this was also the first time she had come to this place. He intended to leave slowly while Liu Shang was admiring this place. But as soon as he lifted his leg, Liu Shang called back to him. Calling Xingli anyway, actually.

"Xinelli! You said this was a legal fight, right? Are there any special conditions for being able to participate here?"

"That's. It doesn't seem to be." replied Xika. He himself also only knew the existence of this place a moment ago and did not know at all about the rules that exist in this place.

"so yeah. What if we fight? You and me. Some say you won't know anyone until you fight him. How's it?"