Forming a Team

Compared to Ye Fan's one-sided crushing of Xiao Xiafeng, Xiao Hongchen's fight with Chen Fei was a true battle between soul engineers.

Soul cannon beams and shells of every color crisscrossed the sky, while metal shields collided with endless booming roars.

Chen Fei unleashed a barrage of piercing soul-engineering rays, and Xiao Hongchen swiftly spread out multiple layers of overlapping defensive soul-engineering barriers. Streams of light exploded and scattered in all directions.

The two of them kept switching between shoulder-mounted main cannons and rapid-fire soul tools on their wrists, alternating between attack and defense. Explosions rang out one after another, and dust billowed across the Soul Fighting Stage, drawing bursts of cries from the watching students.

By the end of the fight, Chen Fei's soul-engineering shells ran out first. He brought out a close-combat soul tool and provoked him with words:

"Xiao Hongchen, my soul-engineering shells are gone. Do you dare fight me up close?"

Hearing this, Xiao Hongchen smiled brightly. "Of course."

As he spoke, Xiao Hongchen withdrew his soul cannons and took out a soul-engineering longsword from his soul tool.

He slashed toward Chen Fei.

Off the stage, when Jing Hongchen saw that Xiao Hongchen had actually agreed to Chen Fei's request for close combat, he could not help cursing, "Foolish!"

Qian Daoliu, however, commented from the side, "This child isn't bad. He's learned a bit of my essence."

Hearing this, Jing Hongchen's eyes lit up. "That's right. I nearly forgot Xiaoxiao has already taken Brother Qian, an Ultimate Douluo, as his master."

Ye Fan, Ye Guyi, and Meng Hongchen entered the Soul Fighting Arena where Xiao Hongchen and Chen Fei were fighting.

They happened to see Xiao Hongchen and Chen Fei engaged in close combat.

Their weapons clashed, and piercing metallic rings exploded one after another.

At first, Chen Fei relied on his close-combat soul-engineering short blade to barely block and circle around, even finding openings to counterattack and just managing to stabilize the situation.

But Xiao Hongchen's sword moves advanced layer by layer. The sword wind, wrapped in soul power, pressed down on him again and again. His offense grew increasingly swift and fierce, step by step forcing Chen Fei back and compressing the space he had to dodge.

Before long, Chen Fei's spiritual power was exhausted, and his defense was full of openings. Xiao Hongchen seized a gap, swept his sword sideways to lock his wrist, and smoothly flicked his weapon away. The tip of his sword lightly pressed against Chen Fei's throat as he shouted coldly:

"Do you yield?"

Looking at the close-combat weapon that had been knocked from his hand, Chen Fei's face was filled with disbelief. "I lost."

Chen Fei let his arms hang down, all his soul power drained. His shoulders were covered in sword marks of varying depth, and the two words of surrender slipped low from his throat, his tone full of unwillingness and dejection.

The moment those words fell, the entire Soul Fighting Arena instantly erupted into an uproar. The veteran students of Grade 3 Class 1 turned deathly pale, each of them looking as if they had lost their souls.

Quite a few people whispered to one another, their voices full of disbelief:

"How are these transfer students so strong? Whether it's firepower suppression or close combat, they can actually suppress Chen Fei. You have to know, Chen Fei is ranked fifth overall in the class."

Li Yan and the other veteran students who had mocked the transfer students earlier all fell silent. Not a trace of their arrogance remained, and when they looked at Ye Fan's group, only wariness was left in their eyes.

Among the spectators, a white-clad youth stared fixedly at the Soul Fighting Stage. His posture was upright, his aura cold, and an extremely scorching, intense battle intent suddenly erupted around him. His eyes shone brightly, filled with utmost obsession and excitement as he murmured:

"What exquisite swordsmanship. I want to challenge him."

Beside the youth, a beautiful, delicate-looking girl frowned helplessly and could not help complaining softly:

"Ji Juechen, all you ever see is swordsmanship. You're obsessed with duels all day long. Aside from studying sword techniques and finding people to spar with, do you know anything else?"

Helplessness overflowed from her tone, but the youth did not hear her at all. His entire heart and mind were still savoring the exquisite sword moves Xiao Hongchen had just displayed.

On the other side, when Meng Hongchen saw Xiao Hongchen win, she immediately beamed with joy. Ye Guyi also let out a breath of relief, while Ye Fan stood quietly at the side, the dark soul power around him slightly withdrawn.

The clamor in the arena gradually died down. Xiao Hongchen held his longsword, the tip of the blade still pressed steadily against Chen Fei's throat without loosening in the slightest, his gaze sharp and intimidating.

Striking while the iron was hot, he spoke in a forceful tone that allowed no argument, pressuring him blandly, "You don't need me to tell you what you have to do after losing, do you?"

As soon as his words fell, Chen Fei's body suddenly stiffened. His face alternated between green and white, shifting repeatedly, his heart filled with humiliation and unwillingness.

But his defeat was already decided. He had no strength to argue, much less resist.

Under the gazes of everyone present, he ultimately suppressed the pride in his heart, lowered his head, and apologized in a dull, hoarse voice:

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mocked the transfer students."

After doing this, Chen Fei left behind a sentence with a face full of anger. "Xiao Hongchen, go ahead and be arrogant. I'm not the strongest in Class 1. When our class monitor comes back, you'll regret what you did today."

Then he rushed out of the crowd without looking back.

In response, Xiao Hongchen smiled coldly. "Chen Fei, I'll be waiting to learn from your class monitor."

After saying this, he put away his longsword, raised his head, straightened his chest, and walked toward Ye Fan and the others.

Meng Hongchen was the first to pounce over, praising Xiao Hongchen, "Brother, you were amazing!"

Hearing this, Xiao Hongchen's face reddened. Then he looked expectantly toward Ye Guyi at the side.

Yet who would have thought Ye Guyi merely nodded at him, then stood motionless beside Ye Fan without saying a word.

In the end, it was Ye Fan who stepped forward and gave Xiao Hongchen a thumbs-up. "Brother Xiao, nicely done."

Xiao Hongchen said, "Brother Fan, you did nicely too."

"Oh right, did you make Xiao Xiafeng call you Daddy?"

Hearing that, Ye Fan froze on the spot. "No. I was so focused on watching your fight just now that I completely forgot about that."

Xiao Hongchen said, "Then should we go find Xiao Xiafeng now and make him honor the bet?"

Ye Fan waved a hand and said, "No need for now. The other term of the bet was that he'd keep his distance whenever he saw me in the future."

"As long as he knows what's good for him and stops making trouble for me, I don't care whether he calls me Dad or not."

"And the main reason I agreed to fight him was to establish authority, so these old students won't keep provoking us at the drop of a hat."

Xiao Hongchen thought that made sense too. "Mm! Up to you!"

Just as Ye Fan, Ye Guyi, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen were leaving together, Wang Shaojie, Ju Zi, and the others who had been watching from the side could no longer sit still.

"Wang Shaojie, where are you going?"

Ju Zi tugged at Wang Shaojie's clothes and asked.

Wang Shaojie said, "I'm going to ask Ye Fan what's going on."

Ju Zi said, "You can't even beat Xiao Xiafeng. What use is there in going to him now?"

Hearing that, Wang Shaojie finally stopped in reluctant frustration and complained viciously, "Then what are we supposed to do?"

At that moment, another white-clothed girl beside Ju Zi added, "Wait for the class monitor to come back, of course. When the time comes, have him properly teach Ye Fan and the others a lesson."

"Mm, I guess that's all we can do..."

For the next period of time, Ye Fan, Ye Guyi, and the others studied soul tool courses during the day, then returned to their residence at night and began their own soul master cultivation.

Just like that, more than half a month passed, and the monthly assessment their homeroom teacher had mentioned finally arrived.

At this moment, Xiao Hongchen first went to find Ye Guyi to team up, only to be mercilessly rejected by her.

On the other side, Meng Hongchen went to find Ye Fan to team up, but likewise, she was mercilessly rejected by Ye Fan.

Left with no choice, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen could only switch targets. Xiao Hongchen went to find Ye Fan to team up, while Meng Hongchen went to find Ye Guyi to team up.

Unfortunately, they were still rejected by Ye Fan and Ye Guyi.

"Why?" Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen both asked Ye Fan and Ye Guyi.

Ye Fan and Ye Guyi answered them firmly, "Sorry, I've already decided to team up with my sister."

"Sorry, I've already decided to team up with my brother."