All along, during the occasional simulated battles in their lessons, Xiao Wu had always been the one on offense, breaking her attacks down into tiny steps to feed Jiang Jiu moves.
Jiang Jiu had improved quickly at defending and dodging, and had begun to show a glimmer of counterattacking. As for taking the initiative, well, he could only say that if he didn't attack, he wouldn't make any mistakes.
In the small grove, the second match was about to begin.
Ling Feng, chosen by Xiao Chenyu, was slight of build, but Xiao Chenyu clearly valued him for a reason. He had a trick of his own.
The two stood in the ring empty-handed. Maybe this would be an exciting hand-to-hand fight?
But as soon as the match began, Ling Feng leaped into the air and performed a nimble flip. He spread his arms like a pair of wings and glided toward Jiang Jiu.
It was certainly a novel way to attack, but if he was only jumping and couldn't actually fly, wasn't he just asking to get hit?
Unable to brace himself in midair, he was far too vulnerable to all sorts of unexpected risks.
Still, Ling Feng really did have a few tricks up his sleeve.
He could twist his body around in the air, beating his arms until he forcibly veered around behind Jiang Jiu.
It was a very creative move to get behind him. Then Ling Feng got a faceful of Jiang Jiu's heel.
All that time practicing the standing splits with Xiao Wu hadn't gone to waste.
Jiang Jiu's Soul Power-charged kick landed squarely on Ling Feng's face. With Ling Feng's physique, that kick would leave him hurting.
"What's going on?" Xiao Chenyu was genuinely starting to panic.
Ling Feng's move had always worked like a charm. The initial pounce was a feint; once the opponent reacted, Ling Feng would quickly circle around into their blind spot and take them down in one move, while they were still recovering from their first attack.
It was the ultimate trump card Ling Feng had devised himself. Even he had to be careful of it.
In the ring, Ling Feng lay motionless on the ground. One more young man down.
Jiang Jiu thought over the fleeting fight he had just witnessed.
Ling Feng really did think of himself as an agility-type Soul Master.
Circling into an opponent's blind spot was a classic fighting tactic. Usually, though, a fighter would arc around on the ground, using their speed to force their way behind the opponent.
Ling Feng's midair maneuver wasn't necessarily a bad idea. It was just that he seemed to have completely forgotten his opponent was a person.
Working in midair was just too dangerous!
After the match, Jiang Jiu stepped down of his own accord. He was more than satisfied.
"Xiao Jiu, those pants are pretty sturdy, huh? Hehe." Seeing that Jiang Jiu wasn't going to push himself any further, Xiao Wu relaxed. She could take it from here.
Jiang Jiu had been hit with his own words, and there wasn't much he could do about it. He was the one who had brought it up in the first place.
"Teacher Xiao Wu, I'll be counting on your guidance from now on."
He hadn't realized until he tried that he really did feel as if he'd been reborn. At least now he was a weakling who could bully other weaklings.
"Of course! I'll make sure to guide you properly from now on, Xiao Jiu."
Xiao Wu bounced up and threw herself onto Jiang Jiu, rubbing against him.
Having him call her "Teacher Xiao Wu" in front of so many people had her over the moon.
"Hey, how much longer are you work-study students going to fool around?" Xiao Chenyu snapped, deeply annoyed.
He had been standing there for a while, yet these work-study students were acting as if he didn't exist.
"Someone's really eager to get beaten up." Xiao Wu was annoyed too, now that he'd interrupted her and Jiang Jiu.
For some reason, when Xiao Wu shot him a cold look, Xiao Chenyu's heart skipped a beat. His voice dropped despite himself, but he still had to keep up appearances.
"You brats don't understand how powerful a Beast Martial Soul Battle Soul Master is."
"As if that's any different from the rest of us."
Xiao Wu crossed the ring in a few quick steps and faced Xiao Chenyu.
Martial Soul Possession! Long rabbit ears sprouted from Xiao Wu's head, her eyes turned red, and a Yellow Soul Ring appeared.
On the work-study students' side, Tang San started to speak, then stopped, staring at Xiao Wu's Yellow Soul Ring in surprise.
He had been about to say that he should take the match.
Tang San wanted to do his part for the work-study students, and he was confident he could beat Xiao Chenyu.
He just hadn't expected Xiao Wu, the leader of the work-study students, to have reached the Soul Master realm too—and to have obtained a Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
"A-a Hundred-Year Soul Ring?" Xiao Chenyu, standing across from Xiao Wu, was stunned. Was this a joke?
"Are you really a work-study student? No way. Absolutely no way!"
"Enough talking. If you want to fight, then hurry up," Xiao Wu said impatiently.
She was actually quite hot-tempered. She just didn't show it much around Jiang Jiu.
"Um, Xiao Chenyu, sixth-year student. Martial Soul: Wolf. Level eleven, one-ring Battle Soul Master." Xiao Chenyu, however, had now calmed down.
"Xiao Wu, first-year work-study student. Martial Soul: Rabbit. Level twelve Battle Soul Master. Can we start now?" Xiao Wu took her stance, ready to spring into action.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Xiao Chenyu suddenly started making a fuss again.
From the looks of it, Xiao Wu was planning to beat him to a pulp. Xiao Chenyu was feeling a little uncertain.
She had a Hundred-Year Soul Ring, and her Soul Power Level was higher than his. Even if he believed his Martial Soul had the advantage, he didn't think he could win.
And she really was a first-year student.
At that age, with that appearance, there was no way Xiao Chenyu would believe she was a work-study student without any backing, even if someone beat him to death.
"If you won't fight, then get lost!"
Xiao Chenyu wanted to say, "Fine, I'll get lost," but he still had some pride.
"You have more Soul Power than I do. It's only right that you're the boss," Xiao Chenyu said ingratiatingly.
"What do you mean?" Xiao Wu glared at him.
Xiao Chenyu's mouth twitched. He'd hinted at it as plainly as he could, but since he'd already decided to back down, losing a little face was no big deal.
This was the wisdom of a city lord's son!
"I surrender! I surrender!"
"From now on, you're the boss of Nuoding Academy!"
"Hey, you guys don't have a problem with that, right?"
Xiao Chenyu dragged all his underlings into it with him.
"Boss Xiao Wu!"
"Boss Xiao Wu!"
Everyone except Ling Feng, who still hadn't recovered, and Liu Long, who had run off, knelt.
With a Hundred-Year Soul Ring on display, what else was there to say? The reason these stronger students had followed Xiao Chenyu in the first place was his Ten-Year Soul Ring.
"Tsk. Are you going to keep bullying the work-study students from now on?"
Xiao Wu hadn't expected things to be resolved so easily. She hadn't gotten to beat anyone up herself, but Xiao Jiu had gotten to try two matches, so that was good enough. Let's leave it at that.
Xiao Wu dismissed her Martial Soul.
"Of course not. We're all on the same side now. We'll all follow your orders, Boss. Right, you guys?"
"Right, right!"
If you can't beat them, join them—that was the way of the world, and Xiao Chenyu knew it well.
"All right, if there's nothing else, get lost. Don't bother me again unless you have a reason," Xiao Wu said with a wave, putting on the airs of a big shot.
Xiao Chenyu and his group left. Xiao Wu bounced back over to Jiang Jiu.
"Xiao Jiu, come on. Let's go eat together!"
The work-study students followed behind them, with Tang San among them.
Seeing Xiao Wu's lightning-fast change of expression, Tang San thought to himself, So this is what girls are like?
Just then, Xiao Wu suddenly turned around.
"Hey, Tang San, right? While you were away Soul Hunting, Xiao Jiu and I did all the work-study duties you were supposed to handle."
"You'll make up for the time you were gone, right?"
If Tang San was assigned to clean the garden, that would mean more time for her and Xiao Jiu to play together!
Hehe!
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