Dual Cultivation

"P-Pleese… I-I undursten…" Lian Heng managed to mumble in a low voice after eating Su Yang's fist for the tenth time.

"What? I didn't hear you," Su Yang said as he raised his fist again.

"I-I SAID I UNDERSTAND! PLEASE STOP HITTING ME!" Lian Heng shouted despite the pain on his face.

Su Yang shook his head and released another punch at Lian Heng's face.

"You clearly don't understand a damn thing…" Su Yang sighed as he continued to pummel Lian Heng until he was satisfied a few minutes later.

Once Su Yang stopped beating Lian Heng, he tossed Lian Heng's body to the side like trash before returning to Wu Jingjing's side.

"S-Su Yang… you didn't kill him, right?" Wu Jingjing asked him in a worried tone.

If he really killed Emperor Lian's son, one can only imagine the outrage it would cause.

"Of course not. I would love to kill him, but I still need the Four Elements Root from his father," he responded in a casual voice.

"..."

Wu Jingjing stared at him with wide eyes. So if not for the Four Elements Root, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill the Emperor's son?

"W-Wait a second!"

Just as Su Yang and Wu Jingjing began walking away, Lian Heng called out to them.

"What do you want? Are you not satisfied with my beating and want more?" Su Yang turned to look at him, who was already applying medicine to his face and swallowing recovery pills.

"I...I challenge you to an official match! If you can defeat me in a sword battle, I will give up on Wu Jingjing and never bother her again! However, if I win, you will disappear from her life!"

"What kind of nonsense is that?" Su Yang shook his head with an unimpressed expression on his face.

"You are suggesting a bet where you have nothing to lose while I lose my woman and daughter? And why swords? What if I don't know how to use a sword? No matter how you look at it, this isn't fair in the slightest."

"So what if it isn't fair?! I am Lian Heng, son of Emperor Lian and the crown prince! If I wanted to take Wu Jingjing by force, who can stop me?!"

"If you don't agree to this battle, I will use my authority to take her by force, and you can't do anything to stop me— unless you fight me on the stage with a sword!"

"Your Highness, you are going overboard. My father won't let you do as you please even if you are his disciple and the crown prince!" Wu Jingjing said to him with an unpleasant frown on her face.

"Don't worry, Wu Jingjing, I won't physically force you to become mine or anything like that. If I was that kind of person, you would've become my woman long ago!" Lian Heng spoke with a confident grin on his face.

"..."

Wu Jingjing was speechless. Did Su Yang beat him too hard that he'd lost some of his senses? No matter how he forces himself on her, she is still being forced to be with him!

"Haaa…" Su Yang sighed loudly.

He then turned around to face Lian Heng with a narrowed gaze before speaking in a calm voice, "Since beating you with my fist was not good enough, I guess I will have to do it with a sword instead."

"When do you want to do this? I don't have much time here so the quicker we deal with this the better," he said.

"Right now! We are going to fight right now!" Lian Heng said.

"Hmm… I don't want to appear as someone bullying someone who's already injured, so I will give you some time to recover before we begin." Su Yang said.

"Follow me!"

Lian Heng said to Su Yang before walking away.

"I guess we will have to postpone the meeting with your father until we deal with him," Su Yang said to Wu Jingjing.

"No matter what you do, just don't kill him… I don't want my father or the Holy Sword Academy to feel Emperor Lian's wrath…" Wu Jingjing warned him.

"Hahaha… Don't worry, I won't kill him, but I will butcher his pride as a man," Su Yang laughed as he followed Lian Heng with a casual feeling around him.

Wu Jingjing sighed before following him with Wu Min in her arms.

"T-This is crazy! We need to let everyone know about this event!"

"The crown prince is going to fight with Senior apprentice-sister Wu's partner on the stage!"

"A sword battle, too!"

News of Su Yang and Lian Heng's battle spread across the entire Holy Sword Academy sect like a wildfire, shocking every disciple that heard it.

And very quickly, pretty much every disciple and sect elder in the sect gathered at the stage to witness this fight.

And although some sect elders wanted to stop this fight before it got out of hand, they didn't dare to refuse Lian Heng during such a sensitive time as everyone and their mother knew about the crown prince's affection for Wu Jingjing.

"Heavens, what happened to His Highness's face? It looks horrible!" The first thing the disciples noticed when they saw Lian Heng was his beaten face, looking like someone had smashed his face against the wall multiple times.

"What? That handsome young man did that to His Highness? Unbelievable!"

"How could His Highness suffer such a devastating defeat from someone who's three whole levels below his own cultivation?"

"I'm sure it was foul play, hence why His Highness wanted to fight him on the stage with so many witnesses."

"Wow, that young man is Senior apprentice-sister Wu's partner? I totally understand why she'd picked someone like him!"

"Right? I wouldn't mind being i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed by someone like him, either!"

An hour later, when the seats around the stage were filled to the brim with disciples and Lian Heng's face injury had healed to the point where he could no longer feel any pain, Su Yang and Lian Heng stepped onto the stage.

However, not even a moment later, a dominating presence appeared not far away, and a beautiful woman with peerless features resembling a fairy descended from the heavens and landed beside the stage.

When this beautiful fairy appeared, the surroundings became dead silent, and everybody there stared at her as though they were at loss for words.