Right now, what Xu Jie lacked was legitimate slaughter—the chance to seize usable Lifespan to raise his martial arts realm, and to keep fighting without pause!
Even setting aside his parents' matter and the Jiang family's threat, if he was not strong enough, he might not even pass the Martial Department's assessment!
If he gave up such a good opportunity, then he would not be Xu Jie!
"Xu Jie, be good. Hey... where are you going?"
Xu Jie ignored the anxious Chu Mingyue completely. With a cold expression, he turned and headed for the armory, intending to pick out a few suitable pieces of equipment.
Seeing this, Chu Mingyue stamped her foot in anger. Still, she took out her phone, preparing to report the matter and see what the principal's attitude was.
The moment Chu Mingyue turned on her phone, however, she discovered that Xu Jie had sent her an encrypted document not long ago.
She opened it and found cultivation methods recording the profound essence of the Demon Subduing Flame Blade, causing her heart to stir faintly.
She had only mentioned it casually... and Xu Jie had actually sent her the profound essence?
Inside the assembly classroom for ranked students.
All the ranked students who had remained at the school were gathered here, numbering roughly more than fifty.
Every one of them held a weapon suited to them, wearing eager expressions as they prepared to follow the instructors out of the city.
Leading these students was a chief instructor whose cultivation was at the Bone Forging Realm.
Just then, the chief instructor on the podium picked up his phone and glanced at a message. His brows immediately furrowed.
The next moment, Xu Jie pushed open the door with his blade in hand. Expressionless, he walked in and casually found an empty spot to stand.
Xu Jie's unexpected appearance naturally drew the attention of the other ranked students.
They clearly had not expected Xu Jie to come. Did it look like he intended to leave the city with them?
Some of the bolder students could not help whispering among themselves.
"Why is Xu Jie here?"
"Didn't the school issue a notice? The Martial Department sent an assessment team to Jincheng City specifically for Xu Jie. If he leaves the city now, would the principal agree?"
"Who knows? If I were him, I definitely wouldn't leave the city. Who would run off to fight and kill when they could lie down and receive resources?"
"Sigh, we can't compare to him! Who told him to be such a monster? Everyone thinks highly of him. I bet Xu Jie only came here to put on a show. After all, he's ninth on the rankings. If he made no move at all, that would be far too embarrassing."
"Tch, if you ask me, monster or not, whether he's a mule or a horse can only be proven by leaving the city. What use is putting on an act? In the end, won't he just take the offered way out and return to his dorm once the instructor persuades him?"
The chief instructor on the podium heard the idle chatter below.
His expression darkened slightly as he swept a cold glance over everyone, and the classroom immediately fell silent.
Only then did the chief instructor look at Xu Jie. After hesitating for a moment, he still spoke softly.
"Xu Jie, go back. This is not a war you should take part in!"
As soon as those words fell, the ranked students all revealed expressions of "just as expected," their gazes toward Xu Jie carrying a trace of disdain.
If their guess was right, Xu Jie now had a way out and would surely "go along with good advice," leave the classroom obediently, and go back to be a turtle hiding in its shell.
Xu Jie tilted his head to glance at the chief instructor. He merely shook his head calmly, making his stance clear.
"Xu Jie! This is the principal's order!"
"The principal also ordered every ranked student to leave the city and meet the enemy!"
"You..."
Just as Xu Jie and the chief instructor were arguing, a young man standing at the very front of the classroom frowned and impatiently spoke to Xu Jie in dissatisfaction.
"Xu Jie, enough! Stop pretending!"
Xu Jie turned to look at him in puzzlement and recognized the speaker as the genius ranked second on the leaderboard, Li Ling.
Li Ling spoke with impatient, contemptuous mockery in his voice.
"We're not idiots. We know you don't want to leave the city and risk your life. You've pretended enough, so stop—"
Xu Jie was already irritated and had been hoping for someone to jump out and stir up trouble.
Before Li Ling could finish, Xu Jie's figure flashed. With a casual swing of his blade, he sent Li Ling flying as easily as if it were nothing.
If Xu Jie had not deliberately held back and used only a fraction of his strength, that strike could have killed Li Ling instantly.
The students in the classroom were immediately dumbfounded by the sight.
First, they had not expected Xu Jie to dare strike so brazenly with the chief instructor present.
Second, the strength Xu Jie displayed shocked them just as deeply!
As the student ranked second, inferior only to the first-ranked person, Li Ling was a genuine martial artist who had undergone five Blood Moving transformations.
Yet with nothing more than an extremely casual slash, Xu Jie had effortlessly crippled Li Ling's combat ability.
What was even more terrifying was that Xu Jie had not even erupted with the power of his blood and vitality when he attacked. Relying purely on the strength of his body, he had been able to instantly defeat Li Ling.
Did that not mean...
That Xu Jie, while still a second-year student, already possessed the combat strength to crush everyone on the rankings?
"Xu Jie, what are you doing?!"
Xu Jie did not even look at Li Ling, who had slowly risen in the distance with an extremely ugly expression but no longer dared to spout nonsense.
Instead, he spoke calmly to the frowning, dissatisfied chief instructor.
"My strength is unmatched among the students! If I don't go, who else is qualified to go? This bunch of trash can all leave the city to face the enemy, so why won't you let me go?!"
"..."
Though his words were crude, his reasoning was not. Xu Jie truly was astonishingly strong, with combat power that defied the heavens.
But with one sentence, he had directly offended every ranked student, displaying his wild and arrogant nature to the fullest.
Xu Jie had always been like this!
He disdained the weak, but he would not deliberately bully them.
He simply disdained them, nothing more, and he expressed that disdain openly without bothering to hide it.
Hearing this, the chief instructor stared deeply into Xu Jie's eyes. Just as he was in a difficult position, Chu Mingyue pushed open the door and walked in.
She first glanced at Xu Jie, standing with his blade in hand, then spoke to the chief instructor in a grave voice.
"The principal has agreed to let Xu Jie leave the city! I'll lead him out to face the enemy!"
It had always been the rule for direct instructors to lead their students out of the city to resist the Beast Tide!
Martial Arts University was under the Martial Department, not the military. Although university students were expected to join the battle, that did not mean they had to be directly commanded by the military.
They could offer help and cooperate, but they could not lose their autonomy!
Chu Mingyue's direct class was in the second year, and she originally had no team-leading assignment. She only needed to follow the other instructors out of the city.
Since Xu Jie insisted on leaving the city, Chu Mingyue took on the task of protecting him, leading Xu Jie as an instructor to resist the Beast Tide.
The chief instructor let out a slight sigh of relief and nodded in agreement with Chu Mingyue. Then he instructed Xu Jie.
"Xu Jie, after leaving the city, listen to all of your instructor's arrangements. Do not act on your own or behave willfully. Understand?"
Xu Jie looked speechlessly at Chu Mingyue, who had walked over and taken her place beside him.
This woman was putting on the air of a parent leading a child, making him feel that this trip out of the city to slaughter demons and monsters had become a little troublesome.
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