Watch Out, or I'll Beat You Up Too

Lin Jin narrowed his eyes slightly at this.

Everyone's attention, the complexity in Tang Wulin's tone, the chill in Wu Zhangkong's gaze...

He understood every oddity in an instant.

It was all because he was late.

Without his knowledge, Ye Yingluo had deliberately set this trap for him.

Its purpose was simply to make him lose face.

Lin Jin even suspected that Ye Yingluo's two teammates for him would deliberately trip him up during the match.

They wanted to pin the responsibility for Class One's defeat in the Class Promotion Tournament on his head.

Of course.

Perhaps Ye Yingluo had never thought Class One would lose in the first place.

Maybe this was merely to make him experience the pain Wang Jinxi had suffered.

After all, it was just a match.

A bunch of One Ring and Two-Ring children.

It was understandable if accidents happened in battle—if someone failed to control their strength or their attacks missed their mark.

"Heh."

Lin Jin suddenly chuckled softly.

He calmly accepted all of it.

The reason was simple.

Was he supposed to argue now that he did not know he was on the roster?

That he did not know he was the captain?

Perhaps some people would believe him.

But was there really any need?

What would it matter if he won the argument?

Wouldn't people still accuse a dignified Two-Ring Great Spirit Master of not daring to fight?

Besides...

Every month, he went with his Senior Sister Mu Xi to the Spirit Ascension Platform.

What was the purpose?

It was to improve his combat skills!

But ever since he had killed the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear...

There was actually very little in the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform that could temper the two of them anymore.

Most of the time, it merely slowly increased the spiritual power cultivation of their Spirit Souls.

Now.

Tang Wulin had arrived before him, which meant he had finished absorbing the spiritual item he had been given.

He had absorbed a layer of the Golden Dragon King's essence.

By his side was Gu Yue, one of the personality incarnations of the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena.

And what about Lin Jin himself?

Having completed Spirit Forging this time, he had gained quite a bit as well.

Before that, he had even created his own Blood Qi Secret Technique.

Weren't opponents like these perfect for testing his current strength?

Furthermore...

After Lotus Flower Flame had burned Wang Jinxi, the "Lotus Light" Lin Jin had gained from him had left threads of "Dragon Qi" within his Spirit Sea.

Then...

What would he gain from burning the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King, who were countless times stronger than the Bone Dragon King?

He was truly looking forward to it.

Thus.

Faced with Ye Yingluo's smiling face.

Lin Jin ignored the malice hidden beneath that smiling face and walked toward her step by step.

He glanced at Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi, who had come out together with Ye Yingluo.

Smiling, he spoke without hiding anything.

"Teacher Ye has certainly given me a surprise."

"But I rather like this surprise."

"I just hope the two of you don't try any tricks on me later."

"Otherwise..."

The smile on Lin Jin's face deepened.

"Watch out, or I'll beat you up too."

Ye Yingluo, Wang Jinxi, and Zhang Yangzi all froze.

Ye Yingluo reacted quickly.

She frowned and said,

"Jin Xi has already let go of the misunderstanding from the beginning of the school year."

"Could it be that you, Lin Jin, are still dwelling on it?"

"Don't worry."

"Now that you're a group, even if you don't get along normally and can't cooperate well, I won't blame you if you really lose the match."

"I hope you'll let go of your prejudices and be more magnanimous."

Wang Jinxi hurriedly spoke as well.

"Lin Jin, I admit that you're strong."

"When you defeated me before, I really was unwilling to accept it."

"But this concerns the honor of our class. How could Yangzi and I not take it seriously?"

"Besides, although Class Six's representative team is strong, they truly don't even have a single Two-Ring Spirit Master."

"Is there any possibility that we could lose?"

"Unless you, as the captain, don't want to win."

Zhang Yangzi said darkly,

"That's right. That Tang Wulin just called you Brother Jin so intimately."

"Lin Jin, you two have known each other for a long time, haven't you?"

Listening to all this, Lin Jin smiled and glanced at the three of them.

It was far too clumsy a frame-up.

It was simply laughable.

Seeing that Lin Jin still did not argue, the expressions in Ye Yingluo and the other two's eyes kept shifting.

In truth, none of the three had concealed their voices.

Lin Jin had no intention of concealing his.

Ye Yingluo wanted to maintain her image as a teacher.

As for Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi, they had clearly begun looking for excuses to "lose" and shift the blame.

Regarding losing.

They seemed very confident.

This actually surprised Lin Jin somewhat.

Ye Yingluo was undoubtedly stubborn and placed great importance on such honors.

Yet just to retaliate against a mere Two-Ring student like him, she was willing to lower herself this far.

It really had not been easy for her.

As everyone listened to the conversation between the four, their expressions turned strange as well.

Naturally, many of them already knew about the grudge between Lin Jin and Wang Jinxi.

Thus, one of the highlights of today's match.

Was that former "enemies" had become teammates today.

"Begin!"

Wu Zhangkong's cold voice rang out.

He had heard the conversation between the four as well.

Thus, he understood that Lin Jin was probably not deliberately late, but had been set up by Ye Yingluo.

As for this woman, who had become obsessed after failing to win his affection and now even resented a student over an accident caused by her own reasons.

He truly found her rather unpleasant.

Thus, he did not want to waste words and directly urged the match to begin.

At the same time.

He glanced at Lin Jin again.

This time, the chill in his eyes was gone.

There was instead a touch more scrutiny.

He thought highly of Tang Wulin as a student.

And now he could sense that, after seven days apart, the aura Tang Wulin gave off had grown much stronger.

His blood qi had become more abundant as well.

He had long known that Tang Wulin and Lin Jin had a personal connection.

After all, one was a blacksmith, while the other was the student of a Blacksmith Association branch president.

They were also in the same academy and the same grade.

It was not strange for them to be acquainted.

But now, it seemed that their connection ran deeper than he had imagined.

The dean of studies, Long Hengxu, personally served as the referee for this match. He announced,

"Since everyone has arrived, both sides will now take the field and prepare for the match."

On Class One's side.

Lin Jin took the lead, with Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi walking side by side behind him.

The latter two exchanged a glance, meaningful smiles appearing on their faces.

A fierce gleam was hidden deep in Wang Jinxi's eyes.

Class Six.

Tang Wulin charged ahead, with Gu Yue and Xie Xie one step behind.

Gu Yue stared coldly at Lin Jin, snorted softly, and clenched her delicate fists. She was clearly already struggling to hold herself back from beating Lin Jin up.

Xie Xie narrowed his eyes slightly, a sharp glint flickering within them, though a smile hung on his face.

Tang Wulin said helplessly,

"Brother Jin, if I'd known I would have to face you... sigh..."

"Go easy on me later."

He was genuinely helpless and somewhat embarrassed.

Lin Jin's words from that day—"You knew I was from Class One, and you still came to ask me?"—still rang in his ears, making his cheeks burn.

However.

Faced with Tang Wulin's polite words.

Lin Jin nodded seriously.

"Don't worry. I will."