Ye Luochen's Strength

"You lost."

Ye Luochen pressed the Dark Iron Blade against his opponent's throat and spoke indifferently.

Feeling the stinging sensation on his neck, Yang Ming's expression turned incredibly ugly, yet he had no choice but to accept the result.

"Yes, I lost."

However, even though he had conceded, Yang Ming couldn't help but add:

"Your 'fly-swatting' style is really..."

"Sigh, I don't know how to put it. If I had been able to keep my cool, you might not have necessarily beaten me."

Ye Luochen did not refute Yang Ming's words.

He simply smiled.

This scene, falling into the eyes of the onlookers by the arena, was naturally interpreted as Ye Luochen acknowledging Yang Ming's statement.

In an instant, discussions erupted all around.

"Yang Ming was too impatient. If he hadn't voluntarily broken away from his soul cannon formation at the end, the outcome wouldn't have been certain."

"That's true, but who could endure that? Constantly having your parts dismantled—could you take it?"

"But that's all it amounts to. Ye Luochen only won this time by messing with his opponent's mentality. In terms of pure strength, he doesn't have my approval."

"A hollow victory."

Such remarks naturally could not escape the ears of the two on the stage.

Hearing these words, Yang Ming's expression improved slightly.

Although he had lost in terms of the result this time, in everyone's hearts, he hadn't truly lost!

Ye Luochen, however, did not care in the slightest.

After nodding to his teacher, he began to walk off the stage.

But before he could even descend the steps, someone stood in his path.

It was Xiao Hongchen.

At this moment, Xiao Hongchen was looking at Ye Luochen with great interest, as if he had discovered something.

"What's this? You clearly won, yet you don't seem to have gained everyone's approval. Don't you plan to explain or refute them?"

Ye Luochen shook his head.

"There's no need. My goal was to verify my practical soul tool combat level, and that goal has already been achieved."

"Wasting my breath on these things is meaningless."

Hearing this, Xiao Hongchen was somewhat stunned, as if he hadn't expected Ye Luochen to answer this way.

But the next moment, a somewhat mischievous smile appeared on Xiao Hongchen's face.

"Interesting. You want to keep a low profile? But as a genius, you aren't allowed to be low-key."

"Because as a fellow genius, I won't allow you to be."

As he spoke, Xiao Hongchen moved, walking up the steps to stand on the stage.

His gaze swept over the crowd below as he spoke loudly:

"Just now, I saw that everyone didn't seem to approve of our new classmate's victory."

"You think he won unfairly? You think he lacks strength and only knows how to use cheap tricks?"

Xiao Hongchen's voice echoed outward.

Although the crowd below was very confused as to why Xiao Hongchen had taken the stage to say such things, they didn't say anything.

Many couldn't help but nod.

Because these words were indeed the inner thoughts of many of them.

But Xiao Hongchen's next statement instantly left everyone stunned.

"If that is what you think, then I can only say that being classmates with you makes me, Xiao Hongchen, feel truly pathetic."

Pathetic?

Hearing such a choice of words, many people's expressions shifted.

Even if you, Xiao Hongchen, have strong talent and the Master of Mingde Hall as your backing.

Publicly saying such condescending things to everyone is going a bit too far, isn't it?

The changes in the expressions of the crowd below naturally did not escape Xiao Hongchen's eyes.

But he did not stop there.

Instead, he continued:

"I ask you, what level soul master is Yang Ming, and what level soul tools was he using?"

"Level four, obviously. We aren't idiots." Someone below couldn't help but answer in a low voice.

Hearing this, Xiao Hongchen let out a laugh and said:

"Heh, if you're not a fool, then let me ask you again: what level soul engineer is Ye Luochen?"

"Level two," the person off-stage continued to answer.

"Then let me ask you this: when you were level two, could you dismantle nearly twenty level-four soul tools with a hundred percent success rate and pinpoint accuracy?"

"Would you like to answer me, 'not-a-fool' classmate?"

Hearing this, the person off-stage was stunned, their face flushing red. After struggling for a long time, they could only shake their head.

"Clearly, you cannot, but our new classmate Ye Luochen did it."

"He not only did it, but he did it while under the suppressive fire of dozens of soul cannon beams."

"He didn't even get a single scratch."

Xiao Hongchen spoke slowly.

Then, his gaze shifted to Yang Ming, who had already returned to the stage.

"The 'not-a-fool' classmate earlier didn't experience it firsthand, so I won't hold it against him, but I'll ask you."

"After Ye Luochen dismantled over a dozen of your soul tools, why didn't you replenish them and rebuild your soul cannon battery?"

Hearing this, Yang Ming stammered for a long time before finally squeezing out:

"I wanted to have a fair and square confrontation with him."

"Oh, a 'fair and square' brother, are we?"

Xiao Hongchen laughed.

"Not bad, your answer is much smarter than that 'not-a-fool' brother's from earlier."

"But unfortunately, your fair and square confrontation didn't lead to victory."

"And what's even more cruel is that this so-called fair and square confrontation was just an excuse."

"The truth is, with Ye Luochen's terrifying speed, you had no time, nor could you have had any time, to replenish your soul tools."

"You could only stand there like an incompetent husband, watching helplessly as your battery was dismantled piece by piece."

"In the end, forced into a corner, you had no choice but to come out and fight, only to be taken down in one move."

"If he hadn't held back at the start, you wouldn't even have had the chance to set up your soul cannon battery."

Listening to Xiao Hongchen's razor-sharp words, the look of 'I didn't lose' that Yang Ming previously wore instantly faded away.

His entire demeanor seemed to deflate.

No moves, brother, no moves.

The incompetent husband had been seen through.

"Your pride and joy, the soul cannon battery, became nothing more than a tool for Ye Luochen to practice his soul engineering techniques, and the rhythm of the entire battle was dictated by him from start to finish."

"Under these circumstances, you still think Yang Ming didn't lose and that Ye Luochen won dishonorably?"

"Is it wrong for me to say that being in the same class as you all is truly pathetic?"

Xiao Hongchen scanned the crowd once more and spoke in a loud, clear voice.

After hearing these words and seeing Yang Ming's deflated state, the other students all wore expressions of 'so that's how it was.'

The way they looked at Ye Luochen began to change as well.

Seeing this scene, Ye Luochen was left with a look of helplessness.

Good grief, he had just blurted out his intention to use his opponent for practice.

This was going to make enemies for him left and right.

Wasn't this just asking for trouble?

However, before he could react, someone else voiced his inner thoughts for him.

Meng Hongchen tapped her toes, her wine-red hair fluttering as she leaped from the crowd and landed steadily on the stage.

She then delivered a solid slap right onto the mouth of Xiao Hongchen, who was standing proudly on the stage and looking down on everyone.

"You're so cheap."

"Don't tell me you think you look cool doing this? Does someone else's match have anything to do with you? You just keep running your mouth."

"Attention seeker. Having a brother like you really makes me, Meng Hongchen, feel deeply saddened."