Forced Buying and Selling

In the end, she gritted her teeth and lit up her fifth Spirit Ring. No matter what, she could not lose to a student.

Using her fifth soul skill to defeat an overpowered Soul Ancestor was not necessarily that embarrassing, but losing would be utterly humiliating.

"Fifth Soul Skill, Azure Dragon Break!"

Li Wei shouted.

The dark red dragon patterns on the Dragon Pattern Staff seemed to come alive, transforming into a dark red dragon-shaped burst of force that flew toward Lin Ming.

The two soul skills collided.

Lin Ming's third soul skill had a fifty-percent armor-piercing effect. It still ignored cultivation level, though it consumed more Soul Power when facing powerful opponents.

The tip of the Clear Sky Spear met the dark red azure dragon, and the energy shockwave unleashed by the violent collision swept across the entire arena.

The students below were blinded by the intense light and could not see what was happening on the stage.

When the light faded, the sight on the arena utterly stunned everyone.

Li Wei was kneeling on one knee, her face pale as paper. Both hands gripped the Dragon Pattern Staff as she braced it against the ground, preventing herself from collapsing.

As for Lin Ming, aside from some damage to his clothes, he was completely uninjured. He stood there as though nothing had happened.

The students below were dumbfounded.

Had their class monitor become this powerful already? He had defeated a Soul King teacher all by himself without even getting hurt.

"Teacher Li, are you all right?"

Lin Ming hurried over to help Li Wei up, only for her to shoot him an annoyed glare.

"You really are my fine class monitor. You brat are far too strong."

She spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear. Saying something like that in front of the students would be rather damaging to her dignity as a teacher.

Naturally, Lin Ming understood what she meant. Besides, he had merely wanted to find an opponent; he had never intended to embarrass Li Wei.

Lin Ming turned around and pressed his hand downward at the chattering students below the stage.

This was when his authority as class monitor became apparent.

With a light press of his hand, the entire venue immediately fell silent.

"Ahem, here's what happened."

Lin Ming rapidly thought things through before continuing, "Teacher Li took the force of the collision between our two soul skills alone in order to protect me, which is why she ended up like this. So, I should be the one who lost this match. Teacher Li certainly could have blocked my third soul skill, but I definitely could not have blocked her fifth soul skill."

Li Wei was quite pleased that he had given her a way out.

However, when she heard him claim that she definitely could have taken his third soul skill, her face immediately reddened. After all, she had used her fifth soul skill because she had believed she could not withstand it.

The students below were still merely teenage boys and girls. Their minds had not fully matured, and neither had their ability to think independently.

Lin Ming's words successfully redirected their thoughts.

"So Teacher Li didn't lose to the class monitor."

"Yeah, yeah. Teacher Li was injured because she was protecting the class monitor."

After a round of chattering discussion, Li Wei's standing in the students' hearts rose another level.

Meanwhile, Lin Ming's words did not diminish his prestige among the students in the slightest.

After all, it took tremendous courage for a first-year freshman to challenge a teacher.

He had exchanged so many moves with a Soul King-level teacher and had even forced her to use her fifth soul skill. Even if he had lost in the end, it was still an honorable defeat.

Thus, not only did Lin Ming's standing among the students not decline, it rose even higher.

After all, the combat strength he had displayed was comparable to that of a Soul King.

Orderly practical combat training then began in the training grounds.

That evening, in Lin Ming and Beibei's dormitory.

"Lin Ming, Tang Ya came to see me again today," Beibei said with some frustration.

After hearing what Lin Ming had said, he understood that joining the Tang Sect was definitely impossible. However, if it was simply being friends with Tang Ya, he was still willing.

Even if maintaining that friendship required him to give something from time to time, Beibei did not mind.

This was not the same as the simping behavior in the original story. The cultivation resources allocated to first-years were already useless to him, so giving them to Tang Ya was no different from charity.

"Why did she come to see you? Was she asking you to join the Tang Sect again?"

Although Lin Ming already knew the answer, he still wanted to ask clearly.

Beibei nodded. "Tang Ya told me that if I joined the Tang Sect, I could learn many profound techniques passed down by their ancestor, Tang San. So I'm a little hesitant now."

Although the Tang Sect had fallen into decline, its techniques had all been passed down.

Things like Hidden Weapon Hundred Solutions, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Mysterious Jade Hand, and Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon were all quite good techniques.

Especially the Purple Demon Eye Tang Ya had been cultivating that morning. That was the technique Lin Ming wanted most.

After all, in the era of the Peerless Tang Sect, there were not many methods capable of effectively increasing spiritual power.

The only ones Lin Ming could think of were the Purple Demon Eye and the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Therefore, no matter what, Lin Ming had to get his hands on the Purple Demon Eye.

Beibei needed to cultivate the Purple Demon Eye as well. It concerned the upper limit of the Spirit Ring age his soul could endure when he obtained Spirit Rings over ten thousand years in the future.

"There's really no need to join the Tang Sect, but those techniques are indeed useful. There's one among them that I'm interested in too."

After thinking it over, Lin Ming finally made his decision. "The Tang Sect is in such decline now, so they must be desperately short of money. We can just use money to buy her techniques."

"But Tang Ya said the Tang Sect's techniques are not passed on to outsiders. What if she refuses? You might not be able to buy them even with money."

Lin Ming gave a wicked smile. "Whether I want to buy them is my business. Whether she sells them is not up to her."

Ever since he had blurted out, "Not even a dog would go," Lin Ming had felt that some unseen will was supporting his opposition to Tang San. Moreover, the owner of that will was definitely no weaker than Tang San, or at least capable of standing on equal footing with him.

Lin Ming could not be bothered to think about where that will came from. So long as it could help him oppose Tang San, he would absolutely support it.

That was why Lin Ming dared to decide on this forced transaction now.

Tang San, high above the heavens, could not interfere with him anyway. Handling a mere Tang Ya would be easy.

"Tomorrow, we'll go have a proper talk with this Sect Master Tang." Lin Ming took out a Gold Soul Coin card worth one hundred thousand from his storage Soul Tool and slapped it onto the table.

"I'm sure Sect Master Tang will be very willing to cooperate with us."

As the grandson of an elder of the Sea God Pavilion, Lin Ming's usual allowance was so abundant that he could never spend it all. Casually taking out one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins was nothing unusual.

Beibei could only take out even more. That was also why Tang Ya had chosen him in the original story.