"Bind her! Dark chains, Shadow Bind, Frost Prison!"
Jiang Yu and Void looked at the girl standing in front of them. The two of them had just drawn their weapons.
The one who had come was no ordinary person. Aside from Elder Longfan, she was probably the strongest instructor at the academy.
He wasn't someone who would just sit back and wait to be attacked. For instance, he'd already put on the armor he'd been comparing with himself.
She moved with an air of effortless elegance. Even her walk seemed measured, and she wore the look of a noblewoman who had grown accustomed to a life of privilege.
But even so, Jiang Yu estimated that the chances of her being his opponent were less than ten percent.
Void wondered whether Jiang Yu regretted his decision, but he didn't see any change in his expression.
She stretched out her slender, pale fingers and quickly pointed at the three of them.
"He's handsome, refined, and charming."
As soon as Void finished speaking, the girl didn't even spare him a glance. She walked straight toward the platform.
Toward the platform.
Every student in the academy, including the headmaster, was waiting for her.
They'd been looking forward to the arrival of this generation's most promising young woman!
A look of panic crossed the faces of the two men beside Jiang Yu.
"Demonic Elder Longfan? I wonder if she brought me a Starfall Demonic Artifact. Would that make her any less powerful?"
Jiang Yu looked at Longfan on the platform and thought to himself.
"Ice Seal."
Longfan on the platform gave a faint laugh.
Up ahead.
The platform, hundreds of meters wide, was encased in ice. Above it floated a giant, crystalline ice flower unlike any other!
Even beneath the fierce rays of the blazing sun, its temperature instantly fell to below freezing.
It was enough to make many novice mages and ordinary people shiver.
An invisible barrier rose around the edge of the platform, blocking the terrifying chill that spread everywhere.
"A mid-tier mage has actually created a domain!"
Some of the mages watching couldn't help exclaiming.
Generally speaking, domains were the exclusive realm of high-tier mages. Besides, not every high-tier mage could comprehend one.
For a mid-tier mage like Longfan to possess a domain was simply unbelievable!
The girl standing on the platform felt the terror of the domain firsthand.
She felt as if all the magical energy in her body had frozen, leaving her unable to cast even a single spell!
But the girl didn't sit around waiting for death.
"Thousand Ice Feathers!"
She gritted her teeth and forced her way through the cold domain, unleashing a pale-blue star array.
Meanwhile, Dark and the other three had also climbed onto the platform, preparing to help restrain Longfan.
Even so, they couldn't let a girl handle it all by herself!
The girl's mid-tier ice magic was released with all its force.
A massive ice lance, formed from a thousand ice shards, shot toward Longfan.
The ice crystals in its path all turned into fine powder.
"What? She's so young, yet her strength is already close to that of an academy instructor!"
"I thought she was just a pretty girl. I didn't expect her to be this powerful!"
Quite a few people were taken aback by the girl's display.
After all, in the entire academy, there were probably few who could compare to her in such a short time!
Longfan stared at the ice lance racing toward her. She didn't panic; her expression remained cold and composed.
"Ice Seal: Bone Prison."
She chanted the spell without changing her expression.
The immense ice energy surged like a raging tide, consuming the pale-blue star array formed from forty-nine stars!
"Crack!"
Several enormous icicles thrust diagonally out of the ground, relentlessly attacking the girl.
At the same time, Longfan's second element was also ice.
And her ice element had reached the second tier of the Spirit Core stage!
"Thousand Ice Feathers!"
This time, Longfan's star arrays formed at a frightening speed. In the blink of an eye, she'd cast another spell!
Unlike the girl's Spirit Core, Longfan's was more focused on melee combat.
That was why the ice lance the girl had thrown was aimed right at her.
But what good did that do?
Longfan's mid-tier, second-tier ice magic had already reached the level of four-star mages at the academy!
The spell she cast was only a mid-tier ice spell, used to restrain her opponent!
The girl hadn't wanted to use her plant-element magic.
But this was a difference of an entire tier!
Her spellcasting speed was nowhere near Longfan's.
That enormous ice spike was about to pierce right through the academy's domain!
"Blazing Sun: Ground Scorch!"
Jiang Yu moved his hand, and the star array seemed to flash into existence.
The ground trembled. In an instant, a fierce wave of fire surged upward, forming a dazzling flower of flames!
The two spells collided, then canceled each other out.
The result was obvious. Longfan had apparently been able to match the two of them by herself for ten seconds.
"Second place, Imperial Capital Mage Academy!"
The chief judge quickly announced the result.
Yet Longfan's rapid spellcasting didn't earn her any acclaim.
Someone finally broke the silence.
"Spirit Core stage, and both her ice and fire elements have reached the second tier. Longfan's power is terrifying!"
"I thought that girl wasn't much weaker than her. It's just that her plant-element magic is too low-level. Otherwise, she wouldn't have lost so quickly."
"No, didn't you notice Jiang Yu's unbelievable casting speed? It took him two seconds—just one second—to cast a spell. How was he so fast?"
One of the judges, a man in his fifties, sounded dissatisfied.
Although Longfan had been defeated, how could Imperial Capital Mage Academy compare with his academy?
Still, placing second was better than placing last. At least Imperial Capital Mage Academy had saved face.
He believed that, with the arrangements made by those influential people, they would soon uncover the secret behind Jiang Yu's magic.
By then, the blazing sunset had turned golden.
Evening was drawing near.
Jiang Yu walked straight toward Longfan, who was sitting in a secluded corner.
The tall, well-built man in a white suit, as well as the man standing beside him, watched Jiang Yu closely.
Quite a few people wanted to get close to Longfan.
But no matter what their background or strength, all they got was her icy rejection.
She was an ice lotus that had never bloomed, a flower so aloof that no one could reach her.
But as they watched, they realized that the three of them seemed to be getting along quite well.
The dusky golden light cast a layer of shifting gold over Jiang Yu.
The black collar of his stand-up jacket covered half of his handsome face. Above it, his cold, sharp gaze was unsoftened even by the evening haze.
The light and shadows intertwined across his body, giving him an image that was both radiant and imposing.
How had he managed to match up with Longfan so well?
"It's been a long time."
Jiang Yu greeted her first, then sat down beside Longfan.
He could feel the cool fragrance around Longfan, like the scent of ice and snow. It carried a faintly familiar hint.
Longfan was looking up at the evening sky.
The night breeze stirred her long, dark hair, lifting it into the air and revealing her delicate profile.
Her eyes, dark as a lake under a rainy sky, stared intently at Jiang Yu.
"Jiang Yu, you can speak."
Jiang Yu naturally understood what Longfan meant.
She'd been afraid he might die an ordinary death, even if he had given her that Starfall Demonic Artifact.
At that thought, her heart froze over.
Jiang Yu couldn't help recalling the academy, four years ago.
Four years earlier, Longfan had smiled at him, her tall frame as cold as ice and her heart as cold as stone...
The two of them had been chatting happily.
A burst of excited shouts rang out!
"The academy's chief mage, Demonic Elder Longfan, is here! Headmaster Song is here too... So many important people!"
A group of imposing figures walked in, wearing mage robes embroidered with dragons.
A young man with a particularly distinctive appearance followed behind them.
When that young man saw Longfan sitting beside Jiang Yu, his eyes instantly reddened.
"Jiang Yu, just wait until I cripple you and lock you up!"
"Jiang Yu, I'll make sure you die a horrible death! I'll make Longfan see what kind of trash you really are!"
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