Wang Feng looked at Su Mu who coughed out a little blood as he slowly stood up.
Wang Feng honestly felt bad for the guy. He remembered that Su Mu was one of the characters that was always getting beaten whenever he appeared, giving Yang Kai the opportunity to take revenge on his behalf and reap a few benefits.
The only thing that reassured him was the fact Yang Kai didn't have any part in any of it, unlike a certain MC who only acts after his beloved or close people are hurt to act as a righteous guy.
Wang Feng looked as Su Mu stood up shakily and thought of what to do. This was a duel, so he can't intervene directly, unless he wants to be implicated.
Plus, unlike in the original, he doesn't know if Su Mu and Yang Kai know each other. Even if they do, Neither Yang Kai nor Wang Feng, himself can enter this dispute with their higher cultivation.
As he was looking between Su Mu and Wei Zhuang, and his armor. He suddenly got a brilliant idea that made him grin devilishly.
....
Su Mu got punched in the stomach, making his back arc as he spit out saliva and blood and got sent rolling on the ground, while Wei Zhuang looked completely fine and was grinning at Su Mu as he walked forward, "what's the matter, Su Mu! Done already!?"
Su Mu breathed heavily as he stood up. He watched with grinding teeth as Wei Zhuang was rushing towards him, only 5 meters away from him.
Just as he was about to retort again, he saw a hammer appear next to him mysterious. A slightly familiar voice reached his ears from behind him, "smash him with the hammer..."
Su Mu's eyes sparkled as he swiftly ducked under a punch from Wei Zhuang by bending at an angle that made it easier for him to grip the hammer from his side.
Wei Zhuang looked surprised that Su Mu dodged the punch and just as he looked down at him. He was greeted by a smirking Su Mu as he smashed something, he couldn't quite see because of the speed at which Su Mu swung it, into his stomach.
As the thing hammered into his stomach, his back arced, his mouth opened and his breath got kicked out of him, he weezed out blood and saliva, his eyes bulged, his limbs froze and he was sent flying backwards.
Wei Zhuang flew 10 meters back and thumped into the ground. Only after crashing into the ground did he feel his breathe come back, along with a great amount of pain in his body.
He shakily stood up as he looked towards his armor and saw how it had cracks all over it and was falling apart from his stomach. His eyes went wide with fear and anger as he shifted his eyes to Su Mu, who was grinning triumphantly as he stood firmly in his place, despite his injuries.
But what caught Wei Zhuang's attention was the sludgehammer that Su Mu was now holding in his hand. The hammer wasn't big, with it's height of about half a meter long, it's face of about 10 inches wide and head of about 22 inches long (11 inches from both sides).
"You! Where did you get that hammer!", He spoke as he steadied himself. Su Mu grinned as he rushed forward with a bloodthirsty grin, not caring to say anything for now.
Wei Zhuang grinded his teeth as he leaped forward, "you think you can scare me with that measly hammer!?", he used a movement technique and rushed at him with a fist extended.
Su Mu tried to dodge but couldn't, so he grinded his teeth and took the punch in the gut before bringing the hammer up and smashing it into Wei Zhuang's back, making him spit out blood as he violently crashed into the ground with a loud groan.
Su Mu stood over him with a disdainful look and said, "what's the matter, is that all you can do, Wei Zhuang. Kneeling in front of others like a filial son."
Wei Zhuang growled as he tried to stand up but was again smashed by the hammer, this time, his armor shattered with only small pieces of it clinging to his body.
"You!... You dare use a weapon during a friendly duel!", Wei Zhuang shouted with red eyes as he saw he couldn't do anything right now as he had sustained injuries from the hammer strikes, which had caused his innards to shake from the force.
He was still racking his mind to figure out just from where did the hammer come from suddenly, and he wasn't the only one as everyone else had this same thought, everyone except one person.
Wang Feng looked on with a grin as he saw Su Mu smash the hammer into Wei Zhuang's chest, causing his armor to be smashed nearly into pieces.
When he heard Wei Zhuang shout about Su Mu using a weapon in a friendly duel, he grinned as he spoke loudly, "WOW, would you look at that! 'Great Elder Wei's Grandson', who had been using a 'Forbidden' Armor in a friendly duel from the start to beat up a fellow disciple weaker than him, is now shouting about 'Forbidden' things when he is getting beaten!"
All attention turned to him as he stood there with his arms crossed. Su Mu's grin widened while his lackies and a few other people started snickering. Wei Zhuang on the other hand, wasn't amused in the slightest as he looked at the one who shouted.
He looked towards the source of the voice and saw a Young Man with a height of 1.8 meters standing there. The young man's muscles bulged against his Lower Based Disciple Robes, but they didn't make him look as a muscle freek. Although he was muscular, his body was lean and perfectly balanced. His long black hair falling behind his back, his face extremely handsome and musculine with his dull golden eyes filled with amusement and a smirk on his face.
Although Wei Zhuang felt frustratingly jealous of the guy because he was more handsome than him, and was feeling the urge to kill the guy for painting him the bad guy with his word. He stopped himself from blowing into his face for only one reason.
The token on the young man's waist. 'this guy ... whose prospective disciple is he!?', he roared into his mind as he looked at Wang Feng with rageful reddened eyes.
Prospective disciples. Disciples who have caught the eye of an elder are given new disciples token, that aren't much different than the regular ones, these tokens reflect their status as a possible future piller of the sect, aka The Core Desciples and Elders when they fully mature, and these disciples have less restrains on them in the sect than even Elite Disciples.
Once such example is the exemption from the duels and having access to a few precious sect resources after the elders behind them give the get-go, with the concent of the elder council of course.
Wei Zhuang being the grandson of the Great Elder, obviously knew how to distinguish between the tokens. He was already racking his brain to figure out which elder has marked Wang Feng as his disciple.
He didn't want to antagonize a disciple that belonged to the neutral faction which might tilt the balance of power in the sect against his grandfather. So he said to Wang Feng with a controlled but edgy voice.
"This fellow disciple, You can see that this Su Mu used a dangerous artifact to attack me again and again. The armor was just used to stop those brutal attacks from killing me.", Wang Feng and everyone's eyes went wide at his Ludicrous words.
But it took just a glance from him at the other disciples for them to quieten down like obedient dogs. Wang Feng looked at that with shining eyes, 'so he's using fear to shut these guys up, huh.'
But, he grinned and looked at Su Mu who was about to retort and stepped forward. At the side, Yang Kai saw this and widened his eyes before he started looking around to see if someone would act.
Seeing that Wang Feng was walking towards them, Su Mu stopped himself from his retorting and looked at Wang Feng. He cupped his hands and bowed slightly, a wince escaping him as he did، "greeting, Senior Brother Wang."
Wang Feng nodded to him and said, "It looks to me that you quite like to get beaten up, huh", Su Mu's mouth twitched as he said, "hey, I'm not a masochist!"
Wang Feng looked him dead in the eye, "..then stop picking impossible fights because of your fragile ego!", his voice loud and repending, before he sighed and looked at Wei Zhuang, making Su Mu scratch his neck in embarrassment and displeasure. After all, no one likes to be repended in front of a crowd.
Wei Zhuang looked at the two talking like this and knew that Wang Feng was probably on Su Mu's side, making his expressions twist. He discreetly motioned one of his lackey with a handsign and the lackey quickly retreated.
Wang Feng looked back at Wei Zhuang after the lackey had left, so he didn't know about it. He looked at Wei Zhuang and said, "I'm impressed Junior Brother Wei."
Everyone suddenly stopped at the comment, taking a double take at what they had heard while looking at Wang Feng. Wei Zhuang's expressions lightened by just a fraction, but it quickly worsened by multiple times as he heard the following words.
"I'm impressed by how utterly embarrassing and shameless you are. Truly, you are the true piller of the sect. A beacon of how shameless a disciple should strive to be.", Wang Feng continued as he clapped his hands while making an admiring face.
Everyone looked at him wide eyed before looking at Wei Zhuang's purple face that conveyed just how angered he was right now.
"I'm truly impressed by how greatly the Great Elder has taught you.", Wang Feng smirked as if his plan was successful. Wei Zhuang's eyes turned red as he shouted and suddenly attacked with all his remaining strength, "You Dare!"
Wang Feng looked at the fist coming towards his face with a calm look. To him, the speed at which Wei Zhuang moved looked that like a snail. He calmly clinched his fist and pulled his hand back before hitting Wei Zhuang in the stomach, making his launch back with a great speed and roll on the ground for a few meters before he came to a stop and coughed out blood.
He looked at Wang Feng with wide and fearful eyes, feeling more pain from that one punch than he had felt when Su Mu had struck him with the hammer.
He shakily stood up while clinching his stomach and suddenly grinned. Immediately, Wang Feng felt a aura behind him, locked on him.
Although he was surprised, he didn't move as the next moment, another aura collided with the one locked onto him. There was a soft booming sound behind him as he stared down at Wei Zhuang with indifferent eyes.
"You know I can handle this myself, right?", Wang Feng spoke. Wei Zhuang, who heard this was confused for a second as Wang Feng had spoken this while looking at him, but his confusion didn't last long as a response came to Wang Feng's words.
"What? And let you have all the fun? Yeah, right.", Wang Feng chuckled as he turned around and saw Yang Kai standing between him and another disciple who was looking at the both of them with narrowed eyes.
"What is going on here!", the disciple shouted as he stood firm. Wang Feng looked at him and said dismissively, "well, what happened was, a disciplinary hall disciple randomly attacked another disciple in front of at least 50 disciples, for no apparent reason."