Chapter 123: Hate

"He is using an Energy Gathering Pill!" One of the fairies in the audience exclaimed. She was shocked to her core when she looked at the pill in the elf's hands. 

When everyone heard and understood the fairies words, a collective gasp was uttered as every elf and fairy were in disbelief. Even the immortals had an ugly expression on their faces as they realized that this elf expert on the stage had taken a pill. 

"I will shred you to bits, maul your skin and throw you to the beasts in the Immortal Valley to gnaw upon your bones! You are a mere human, a disgusting human! How can you think that you can defeat me?! How can you be the one chosen by Mu Jianyao?!" 

Hearing these statements, everyone was shocked, but the expression on Mu Jianyao's face turned sour. She sent a glance towards the Immortal teacher of this elf. The face of his Immortal teacher also had a shocked expression on his face which quickly turned away. To have a student that cheated was throwing away the face of both himself and his teacher, one could guess just how furious this immortal was.

"We should stop this," Mu Jianyao said anxiously but no one paid her any attention. The Energy Gathering Pill was a pill which allowed for the consumer to devour all energy in the surroundings and use it as his own. It was similar to how Xu Min was devouring the energy of his opponent. 

The elf was bursting with energy. His body was releasing ripples of energy, and every move he made was filled with so much power that even Xu Min had problems staying on the stage.

The elf took a step and beneath his feet cracks appeared on the stone as the energy was pressuring down. Another step and even more ripples of energy were pus.h.i.+ng out, the ripples alone were enough to make Xu Min back away slightly. 

"I guess I have no other option than to go all out," Xu Min mumbled and took a deep breath with eyes closed. He reached out for the sword in his hand and willed it to start devouring the energy that was being released as ripples from the elf and soon all this excess energy was like a steady stream of mist that floated across the stage and entered Xu Min's sword and from the sword into the body.

The white mist was even visible for the immortals and the audience, but no matter how they looked at this, no one was capable of telling exactly how it was done.

"You previously tested whether or not it was the sword or he who was capable of absorbing the energies right?" The headmaster asked an immortal who was standing by his side.

This immortal was no stranger to Xu Min, he was the one who had claimed to be the judge of the sparring field matches and also the immortal who had examined his sword previously. 

Hearing the question from his master the immortal nodded his head, "Yes," he said affirmatively, "I checked it before, and it is not the sword which is the reason for him absorbing energy. He is capable of absorbing energy on his own as well." 

Although Xu Min had used some tricks to absorb the attack back then, this immortal had no way of knowing this, and he was completely certain that the absorption was an ability Xu Min had in his body. A strange ability yes, but none the less an ability his body contained.

The certainty in his voice was enough to make every single member of the group of immortals certain that he was correct. It made sense that this expert who could control both Qi, spiritual energy and elemental affinity also had other secrets in his body and no one questioned whether it was the sword or his body who consumed the energy any longer.

While Xu Min had been pressured before his body now was capable of contesting against the aura that was rus.h.i.+ng against him as he was consuming it all, it was a fight against who was able to consume the most energy, Xu Min from the elf, and the elf from the surrounding world.

Xu Min could feel that the energy he was consuming was many times more powerful than when he had battled a hundred experts alone in the Immortal Valley. He was now stronger than he was then, but so was his opponent and now he was able to feel that his body was not as strong as the opponents body. He could not contain as much energy as his opponent could, but Xu Min refused to give up.

Cursing at the immortals who were still not stopping the battle Xu Min closed his eyes and started to let go of all the binds that he had in his body. He released his hate that was usually hidden beneath one after another layer of defenses, the hate which had burned within his body for so many years, a hate which had fueled him through life for so long, but this was the first time he fully released it. 

Together with the hate he also created thousands of wind blades, every single one of them with a swordlight merged into the wind blades, as they shot towards the elf in front of him. 

Xu Min's hate was so strong that the moment it arrived, it was like a ma.s.sive tsunami of energy which was released, a dark energy which started to seep out of Xu Min's body.

The moment this energy arrived, and eerie atmosphere appeared everywhere around him. The dark energy which seeped out from Xu Min's body laid an oppressive aura on everything present, and suddenly blood started to fall like a stream of tears from Xu Min's right eye. 

As the blood fell, the dark energy intensified and every student felt terrible. It was worse than when Xu Min released his killing intent; this energy did not just make them chill and make them feel like they had entered an area with cold weather. Instead, the black mist-like energy entered their bodies and sucked away all their happiness. All of them felt as if they were thrown into a world of despair; their bodies became weaker and weaker. 

It was not only the audience which was being affected by this sudden despair that erupted from Xu Min's body, but the elf in front of him was even more unfortunate than them.

All the hate in Xu Min's body was being aimed straight at this elf; the others were just hit by the remnant energy that roamed around. 

The elf started screaming. The hate was so powerful that he felt his entire world become dark, there was no hope, no light, no joy left, all that was there was endless despair, even the color vanished from his eyes as he was corroded by the hate.

Even the immortals were stunned for a moment by the sudden outburst, but the headmaster suddenly waved his arms and landed on the platform between Xu Min and the elf, his arms spread and he soaked in all the darkness that kept seeping out from Xu Min's body.

"Get a hold of yourself!" The headmaster called out as Xu Min's eyes turned completely black, the hate was not only corroding the enemies, it was also corroding Xu Min's own body and mind.

Hearing the voice, Xu Min's mind which was hibernating far back within the consciousness seemed to hear these words and slowly woke up. 

The hate receded, and Xu Min returned. The blood stopped flowing from his eye, and his pupils returned to the eyes instead of the complete darkness which had filled it earlier.

The hate, which had run rampant and filled Xu Min's entire body was slowly overpowered and locked away deep within his body once more.

As the hate was being locked down, Xu Min regained his consciousness and realized that the entire area was filled with a black mist, but although he understood that it was him who had affected every single student, he did not feel guilty. 

The first one to break the rules had been the elf who was now collapsed on the ground, had he not consumed the Energy Gathering Pill, then Xu Min would not have been forced into such dire straits. 

The Immortals had clearly been very curious about how Xu Min would handle this expert, and since they had been curious, it was only fair that Xu Min showed them some of his hidden strength. Had they stopped the elf, then Xu Min would not have been pushed that far and wounded every single member of the academy as a result. 

But Xu Min got his hate under control, and the other immortals started flying around, annihilating the black mist which had covered the students and slowly their minds were relieved from the darkness they had descended into.

While the students awoke, all of them felt terror in their hearts as they looked at Xu Min. This young human seemed to have so many unfathomable secrets hidden within his body. To think he could make all of them that fearful after only a few moments, that was something no one before him had ever managed.

While the students who had been hit by the excess energy were fine, the elf in front of them was not. Although there were three immortals next to him, all three using their abilities to suck out the black energy, it seemed as though it was neverending. 

The elf had collapsed on the ground and no matter how much they attempted, it seemed as if it was an impossible task they were doing. 

"Xu Min," The headmaster called out and Xu Min, who knew that they would blame him if something happened to this expert, even if it was their mistake for not interrupting when the elf took the pill, he sighed deeply and went towards the headmaster.

"The hate you contain is far more powerful than any of us could ever imagine. You have hidden it all too well. Now, although we are shocked, it is too severe an attack." 

"As it is now we are incapable of fully removing all the hate and darkness from this student, his body might be fine but his mind is being corroded by your hate. Do you think that it is possible for you to withdraw this hate that you use to attack him with?"

"You tell me that my attack is too severe, but you saw it yourself, my opponent used an Energy Gathering Pill. I am a lower rank than him and I do not have as good a grasp on spiritual energy as he does. My only option was to use some of my hidden power which ended in this way. Had you stopped him when he ate the pill then I would not have to use my innermost emotions." Hui Yue responded with a frown on his face. 

The headmaster was shocked when he heard that Xu Min was talking back to him but Mu Jianyao, who was standing behind the headmaster, gave Xu Min an approving nod. She thought that it was for the best that he defended himself. 

"I admit we made a mistake," the headmaster said as he spread out his arms and sighed, "Although we made a mistake, it would be too much to waste this young student. Please step forward and try to use your own emotions to draw out the hate from within his body."

Xu Min contemplated for a short while as to what he should do. The headmaster was waiting patiently although he knew they did not have a lot of time to deal with the hate. Xu Min did not care for the expert but since the headmaster was speaking so politely to him, he decided that he would help out.