“If I’d known how straightforward you’d be, I wouldn’t have wasted so much breath,” Guan Tianyu sneered. “Do your worst!”

By this point, Yun Ruoyan absolutely detested Guan Tianyu, and she started with a fireball. After a period of practice, Yun Ruoyan was getting much more accustomed to the fireball technique, and her fireball was twice as large as before.

Yun Ruoyan slung the fireball toward Guan Tianyu, who glanced at the fireball with some shock before he countered with his own external ice-type technique. With his two palms held out in front of him, blue spiritual energy quickly manifested in the form of an icy bulwark. He tried to speed up the process as much as possible, but by the time Yun Ruoyan’s fireball reached him, he was only halfway done.

Half the fireball was blocked by the bulwark, and the other half licked Guan Tianyu’s lower body. Instantly, his white student attire began to burn.

Guan Tianyu’s face paled as he hurriedly put out the flames with water vapor.

“Haha, he’s on fire, on fire!” Lin Qingxue crowed. “That’s what you get for speaking nonsense!”

Yun Ruoyan’s hands were still behind her back, as though the fireball had expended no effort from her. On the other hand, Guan Tianyu cut a sorry figure. 

“How incredible! Last time, when she used that fireball in the cafeteria, it was barely half this size. It’s only been two weeks, and she’s already managed to improve so much!”

“As expected of Master Mo’s disciple! I bet Guan Tianyu’s not finding her an easy target now!”

Despite Guan Tianyu’s flustered appearance, he didn’t suffer any serious injury.

“Boss, are you alright?” His thin, skinny lackey had run away as soon as Yun Ruoyan threw out the fireball, and he was only running back now.

“Scram, you useless piece of trash!” Guan Tianyu pushed him aside. He was more than a head smaller than Guan Tianyu, and his arms were half as thick as his. Guan Tianyu’s relatively weak shove was enough to bowl him over, causing him to fall to the ground in a ‘大’ shape.

“Ouch!” the thin, skinny lackey yelped, but no one reached out to help him up. Instead, his fall incited a chorus of laughter.

“Hahaha, good riddance!”

“Pick a better boss to follow, you fool!”

“I’ve long since gotten tired of his antics—no, their antics!”

The crowd laughed uproariously, and even some students from the northern college joined in. Guan Tianyu tended to disrespect his seniors and bully his juniors, judging that no one would dare do anything to him because of his relationship with the second elder. Against the students from other colleges, he was even more domineering.

This thin lackey would always follow behind Guan Tianyu, crowing at the students that Guan Tianyu bullied.

“Yun Ruoyan, I didn’t expect you to progress so quickly.” Guan Tianyu straightened his clothes. “This time, I’ll be the one attacking, and I won’t go easy on you!”

With the wave of a hand, Guan Tianyu created a row of icy knives and shot them toward Yun Ruoyan. There were a dozen of them, and each had a different velocity and direction. It was clear that Guan Tianyu had used his full strength: each knife had a sharp, serrated edge, and the combined attack had high penetrating power and surprising range.

Although Yun Ruoyan’s fireball technique was strong, it would only hit one target: Guan Tianyu. On the other hand, Guan Tianyu’s attack might very well hit those behind and to the sides of Yun Ruoyan.

When the crowd saw Guan Tianyu’s attack, they began to sweat. Was Guan Tianyu crazy? With such a broad attack, he’d hit the bystanders as well!

Yun Ruoyan’s cultivation wasn’t yet sufficient to melt all of them at once with a single fireball. Even if she tried her best, she could only melt a small subset, and wouldn’t be able to block the rest. Beside Yun Ruoyan were Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen, as well as a number of new students from the southern college who could hardly defend themselves against such an assault.

It wouldn’t be difficult to protect herself, but to protect others as well…

“Senior Sister Guan!” Yun Ruoyan hurriedly looked to Guan Ruliu, who stood by her side. Guan Ruliu nodded, taking a step forward and helping Yun Ruoyan block the errant knives.

With four small fireballs, Yun Ruoyan dealt with four knives, but the remaining knives were already right in front of them. Guan Ruliu pulled out a vine from her pouch, which elongated into a living whip. With a sharp snap from Guan Ruliu, it smashed the remaining eight knives apart.

“It looks like you students from the southern college aren’t so bad, so I won’t have to hold back.”

Guan Tianyu released another two rows of knives, about twice the number that he had before.

“Guan Tianyu!” Yun Ruoyan shouted. “If you want to deal with me, focus on me! What sort of nonsense is this?!”

Guan Ruliu was already trying to disperse the crowd, but there were so many students behind Yun Ruoyan, some of whom hadn’t realized what was happening and were still trying to squeeze in to watch the fight. Without more time, it would be impossible to get the students out of harm’s way.

“What, you can’t tell? I’m spreading my net to catch a big fish.”

“Aren’t you afraid of hurting others and being punished in the hall of penitence?” Yun Ruoyan exclaimed. “Last time, your northern college’s own Master Rong clearly said that anyone who hurts their fellow students will be punished harshly!”

Guan Tianyu only chuckled coldly. “These icy knives of mine will only hurt others, not kill them. As long as they don’t die, I won’t be in any trouble at all. Enough with the nonsense—take this!”

Guan Tianyu thrust his arms forward, and the row upon row of knives all shot out toward Yun Ruoyan.

Guan Ruliu, Zong Yang, and the Lin sisters were trying their best to disperse the crowd behind, and Yun Ruoyan was left to defend against all the knives by herself. She too retreated, trying to conjure up more fireballs in the limited time she had.

Everyone else watching stared grimly at the sight: evidently, it was highly unlikely that Yun Ruoyan would be able to deal with all the knives by herself.

Yun Ruoyan herself had no time to think about anything else; she could only grit her teeth and try to bear the brunt of the attack, mitigating as much of it as possible. Just as the majority of the knives were about to strike her, jade-green leaves began flying into the arena from nowhere, far larger in number than the icy knives.

As the leaves hit the knives, shards of ice and bits of leaf scattered through the air.

“Who is it?” Guan Tianyu’s gaze swept through the gathered crowd. “Who’s the one interfering in this bout?”

“Me!” The crowd turned to look at the student who had spoken: a tall youth no less imposing in stature than Guan Tianyu, Zhuo Yifeng!

“Brother Zhuo!” Lin Qingxue called out in excitement. “Wonderful timing! This guy’s a nuisance, so please take care of him with Sister Ruoyan!”

Zhuo Yifeng’s features softened as he met Lin Qingxue’s smiling face. He walked up to Yun Ruoyan and slightly inclined his head.

Yun Ruoyan mirrored the gesture, and the mutual rapport that they had developed came back in full force. In the intervening period, they had each found a mentor and become strong. Although neither of their cultivations had improved significantly, they had both picked up an external spiritual technique, increasing their affinity with the elements and solidifying their aura.

They stood side by side. Even without verbal communication, their synchrony seemed obvious to all.

“And who are 

you

?”

Zhuo Yifeng rarely ventured outside the central college, so most of the older students were still unfamiliar with him.

“Boss, Boss, he’s Zhuo Yifeng, a piece of trash from the central college!” His thin, skinny lackey clutched his waist as he answered.

Guan Tianyu snorted coldly. “And here I thought you were someone talented! But you’re nothing but trash from the central college.”

“It doesn’t matter who I am.” Zhuo Yifeng’s bright eyes stared at Guan Tianyu. “What matters is that you were bullying my friends, and you’ll pay the price!”

Guan Tianyu scrutinized Zhuo Yifeng’s unusually bright eyes carefully, stilled, then scoffed. “So you’re a beastkin lad, are you? When did Kongming Academy start taking even the lowly beastkin? Are there no other humans on the Chenyuan continent?”

Right after he spoke, Guan Tianyu noticed a large patch of slender, jade-like pine needles filling his vision, so many that he couldn’t even begin counting them. However, he remained calm, grabbing his thin lackey to use as a meat shield.

He barely had time to scream before the needles struck him, each one causing him to squeal shrilly. However, because of how much thinner he was than Guan Tianyu, the majority of the needles struck Guan Tianyu instead.

He looked like a cactus, blood welling where the needles pricked him. Although each wound was minor, there were so many of them that blood seemed to dye his arms red.

The thin, skinny lackey that Guan Tianyu held in front of him was in even worse condition, with his entire back drenched in blood. Regardless of whether the injury was serious, just looking at him made one cringe.

“Zhuo Yifeng, was it? You’re trying to kill me?!” Guan Tianyu’s eyes sparked with rage, but he didn’t dare attack.

Zhuo Yifeng’s external spiritual technique was so unusual and strong that Guan Tianyu had never seen its like. He almost couldn’t believe that Zhuo Yifeng was actually a member of the central college.

He could sense that Zhuo Yifeng’s cultivation was lower than his, but this external technique alone was enough to overcome the difference.

“What’s going on here? Why aren’t all of you in class?” Just as Yun Ruoyan and Guan Tianyu seemed to be in a stalemate, Rong Tianhai’s voice suddenly emerged from the crowd.

“Master Rong, come quickly!” Guan Tianyu hurriedly shouted. “Someone’s trying to murder another student! Punish him!”

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