Red Face Seeks the Way: When you encounter an opponent or teammate of the opposite sex, your attack speed increases by 35%, and your chance to deal 50% extra damage increases.
Jiang Ye's punches were now 1.35 times faster than usual.
He could throw one extra punch every second!
It might not seem like much, but over ten seconds, that meant ten extra punches. The damage added up to a very considerable amount.
In just three or four seconds, Jiang Ye had already thrown more than ten punches, hammering away like a pile driver.
Almost every punch unleashed the full force of six hundred kilograms!
"Roar!"
The humanoid shadow's face caved in under the blows. It let out a roar and vanished.
Whoosh!
It hadn't fled. Instead, it swiftly possessed the shadows of Tao Xiaogang and the others.
The Shadow Clan was highly intelligent.
It seemed to have realized that Jiang Ye was difficult to deal with, so it decisively chose to take out the others first.
"Roar!"
The humanoid shadow roared. Its voice seemed to interfere with the brain, leaving everyone present dazed, their ears ringing.
"Watch out!"
Jiang Ye shouted.
He was the first to recover and warily scanned his surroundings.
Even an Infant Body Shadow Clan member was far faster than an ordinary human. They could teleport through shadows, making their movements elusive.
That was one reason the Shadow Clan was so difficult to deal with.
The moment Jiang Ye's warning rang out, the pitch-black shadow appeared again, lunging at Xia Qing with claws bared.
"Go to hell!"
Xia Qing wasn't helpless either. She shouted and slammed a fist into the shadow.
But her punch was nowhere near as effective as Jiang Ye's.
Fortunately, Tao Xiaogang and the others quickly joined in, each displaying their skills as they ganged up on the Shadow Clan's Infant Body.
Ordinary weapons—swords, spears, blades, and even firearms—could barely inflict any real damage on the Shadow Clan.
Human fists, on the other hand, could truly threaten them.
That was because the human body produced a strange "magnetic field" that could suppress spirits and demons.
Starry Sky Martial Artists harnessed Starry Sky Energy to stimulate this magnetic field. Once they did, they could use specially made weapons to inflict much greater damage on the Shadow Clan.
Those who hadn't achieved First Break had no choice but to rely on their own fists.
"Die!"
Jiang Ye and the others surrounded the shadow and attacked.
Though it was only the weakest kind, an Infant Body, the five of them still struggled to bring it down.
Every time the shadow roared, it left them dizzy and barely able to stand.
Fortunately, its roars had little effect on Jiang Ye, allowing him to warn the others in time.
If not for that, the others would have already suffered severe injuries.
Roar~
It roared again.
This time, Jiang Ye didn't have time to warn them.
"Crunch!"
One of them had an arm bitten off. Blood poured everywhere as he let out a piercing scream.
"Li Xuan!"
"Are you all right?!"
Tao Xiaogang's face changed. The fierce battle had nearly made him forget they were in a virtual world.
"This damned Shadow Clan member has way too much vitality!"
Their stamina was limited, but the Shadow Clan seemed to have boundless energy. Worse, they were tough as nails and nearly impossible to kill.
And this was five against one. It was unthinkable to face one alone.
"It's almost done for!"
Jiang Ye watched the shadow and said in a low voice, "Everyone, attack together! Finish it off!"
The humanoid shadow's form was twisting and warping, like a melting popsicle, struggling to hold its shape.
It was a sign of weakness!
"Together!"
Jiang Ye charged first, gathering all his strength into a punch.
In that instant, inspiration struck. He sensed that the punch's power would increase dramatically.
Fifty percent extra damage!
After fighting this whole round, it finally triggered?
Jiang Ye had no time to think. He slammed his fist into the shadow's head.
Boom!
The punch split the shadow apart, sending puddles of liquid-like darkness splattering in every direction.
Yet the shadow still had strength left. Its form flickered, and it vanished again.
The next moment, it appeared in Li Xuan's shadow, clearly intent on taking him down with it.
Fortunately, Tao Xiaogang spotted it in time. He whipped out a kick, splitting the shadow from head to toe.
"It's finally dead."
Tao Xiaogang let out a long breath.
"The Shadow Clan is a real pain to deal with." Jiang Ye's expression was equally grave.
It was a good thing they were in a virtual world. In the real world, the danger would be far greater.
Just then—
Whoosh!
Three more humanoid shadows took shape in the darkness nearby.
They were also one and a half meters tall, the lowest-ranked Infant Bodies.
But this time, there were three!
"Second round." Everyone's expression turned serious.
The Virtual Starry Sky assessment was like a game with successive stages.
The first round had only one Shadow Clan member.
The second round had three!
The third round had five!
The farther they went, the more there would be.
"Don't let your guard down. Let's try to clear the second round!" Jiang Ye said.
"Okay." Tao Xiaogang and the others had all rallied around Jiang Ye, so naturally, none of them objected.
While Jiang Ye's team was locked in a fierce battle,
the other teams were fighting just as hard.
In one virtual space,
Xu Sisi led the other four as they fought desperately against the three shadows in the second round.
By then, three people on her team were injured, and two of them had each lost an arm.
The team's strength had taken a huge hit.
Only Xu Sisi remained at full strength, but even she couldn't hold out much longer.
Hold on!
Xu Sisi gritted her teeth. You're your parents' only hope. You have to get into the Twenty-Five School Alliance so Mom and Dad can live in a two-hundred-square-meter apartment!
You can't fall here.
If you can't even hold on to second place, how can you talk about taking first or getting into the Twenty-Five School Alliance?!
"Kill!"
Fueled by her tenacious will, Xu Sisi unleashed astonishing fighting strength.
Crunch!
Her fist pierced through one shadow's head, but at the same time, the Shadow Clan tore her left arm to pieces.
Xu Sisi gritted her teeth and continued toward her next target.
In another virtual space,
Boom!
Li Zhichao killed the third shadow, blood dripping from his body.
He was also badly injured, and the situation looked grim.
But when he glanced behind him, he saw his four teammates being pinned to the ground and beaten by a shadow.
Li Zhichao was just about to go help them.
"Roar!"
A roar rang out. Li Zhichao clapped his hands over his ears in agony as the world spun around him.
It was the Shadow Clan's roar. It could disrupt the mind and leave people disoriented!
While he was distracted, a shadow darted over and slapped him.
In the metallic hall,
Zhang Jianwu folded his arms and watched the rankings scroll across the giant screen.
"That girl Zhao Qingli has already reached seven hundred points? Unbelievable."
"I remember her talent wasn't among the very best when she started high school. But if she keeps this momentum up, she might make it into one of the Top Ten Elite Schools next year."
Ancheng Third Middle School wasn't the best school in Ancheng.
It didn't even produce a student admitted to one of the Top Ten Elite Schools every year.
Even Ancheng's best high school, Ancheng First Middle School, produced at most one or two such students a year.
After all, Ancheng was just a small city.
Zhang Jianwu's eyes flickered slightly as he looked toward Jiang Ye.
"This student does have some potential. Next year, he may have the slimmest chance of getting into the Twenty-Five School Alliance. For Miss Chen's sake, I'll give him a chance to take the trial."
As he was thinking, a young man walked over.
"Director Zhang, is there a student here you're interested in?" the young man asked with a smile.
Zhang Jianwu turned to look. The young man was Wang Ziang, a student in the Key Class.
He was also currently ranked third in the grade for this final assessment.
Wang Ziang glanced around the hall, curiosity in his eyes. "Everyone here seems to be from the Ordinary Class."
Zhang Jianwu clasped his hands behind his back. "Never underestimate anyone. The Ordinary Class has produced promising candidates, too. Last year, one student transferred from the Ordinary Class to the Key Class, then made it into the top fifty in the grade on the college entrance exam."
Wang Ziang didn't argue. With a sigh, he said, "People like that are rare. Most people, myself included, are actually pretty mediocre."
He sighed again and again, acting as if he were hopelessly bad.
Zhang Jianwu shot him a glance and scolded, "Give me a break. You're third in the grade, and you're putting on an act in front of me? Try surpassing the two girls ahead of you first."
Wang Ziang was speechless. "I said I was mediocre. How is that putting on an act?"
Zhang Jianwu snorted but didn't reply. That brat was always putting on a show. How could he not know?
Now that he'd made it to third in the grade, he acted all modest, but his tail was practically pointing at the sky.
By then, most of the students from Class Nine had completed the assessment.
The top-ranked students were also beginning to exit the Virtual Starry Sky.
The grade rankings on the giant screen shifted once more.
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